Henequen
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| Henequen | ||||||||||||||
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| Agave fourcroydes Lem. |
Henequen, is an agave Agave fourcroydes (Lem. 1864) whose leaves produce a fiber (also called "henequen") suitable for rope and twine, but not of as high a quality as sisal. Alternative spellings are Henequin and Heniquen. It is the major plantation fiber agave of eastern Mexico, being grown extensively in Yucatán, Veracruz, and southern Tamaulipas.
The plant appears as a rosette of sword-shaped leaves 1.2 to 1.8 meters long, growing out of a thick stem that may reach 1.7 meters (5 ft). The leaves have regularly-spaced teeth 3-6 mm long, and a terminal spine 2-3 cm long.
Like the sisal, A. fourcroydes is a sterile hybrid; the ovaries never produce seeds. The plant does produce bulbils that may be planted, but commercial growers prefer to use the frequent suckers, which develop more quickly.
[edit] References
- Howard Scott Gentry, Agaves of Continental North America (University of Arizona Press, 1982) pp. 573-576
