Agave americana

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Agave americana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Agavoideae
Genus: Agave
Species: A. americana
Binomial name
Agave americana
L.[1]
Synonyms[2][3]
  • Agave altissima Zumagl.
  • Agave americana var. marginata Trel.
  • Agave americana var. mediopicta Trel.
  • Agave americana var. picta (Salm-Dyck) A.Terracc.
  • Agave americana f. picta (Salm-Dyck) Voss
  • Agave americana var. striata Trel.
  • Agave americana var. subtilis (Trel.) Valenz.-Zap. & Nabhan
  • Agave americana var. theometel (Zuccagni) A.Terracc.
  • Agave americana var. variegata Hook.
  • Agave americana f. virginica Voss
  • Agave communis Gaterau
  • Agave complicata Trel. ex Ochot.
  • Agave cordillerensis Lodé & Pino
  • Agave felina Trel.
  • Agave fuerstenbergii Jacobi
  • Agave gracilispina (Rol.-Goss.) Engelm. ex Trel.
  • Agave ingens A.Berger
  • Agave melliflua Trel.
  • Agave milleri Haw.
  • Agave ornata Jacobi
  • Agave picta Salm-Dyck
  • Agave ramosa Moench
  • Agave salmiana var. gracilispina Rol.-Goss
  • Agave subtilis Trel.
  • Agave subzonata Trel.
  • Agave theometel Zuccagni
  • Agave variegata Steud.
  • Agave virginica Mill. 1768, non L. 1753
  • Agave zonata Trel.
Agave americana in bloom in Portugal. The flower stalk may reach up to 8 m (26 ft) in height

Agave americana, common names century plant, maguey or American aloe,[4] is a species of flowering plant in the family Agavaceae, originally from Mexico but cultivated worldwide as an ornamental plant. It has since naturalized in many regions including Europe, South Africa, India, and Australia.[5]

Despite the common name "American aloe", it is not closely related to plants in the genus Aloe.

Description

The misnamed century plant typically lives only 10 to 30 years. A monocarpic succulent, it has a spreading rosette (about 4 m (13 ft) wide) of gray-green leaves up to 2 m (6.6 ft) long, each with a spiny margin and a heavy spike at the tip that can pierce to the bone.

When it flowers, the spike with a cyme of big yellow flowers may reach up to 8 m (26 ft) in height. Its common name likely derives from its semelparous nature of flowering only once at the end of its long life. The plant dies after flowering, but produces suckers or adventitious shoots from the base, which continue its growth.[6]

Taxonomy and naming

Agave americana was one of the many species described by Carl Linnaeus in the 1753 edition of Species Plantarum, with the binomial name that is still used today.[1]

Cultivation

Agave americana is cultivated as an ornamental plant for the large dramatic form of mature plants - for modernist, drought tolerant, and desert style cactus gardens - among many planted settings.[7] The plants can be evocative of 18th-19th-century Spanish colonial and Mexican provincial eras in the Southwestern United States, California, and xeric Mexico.[citation needed]

Subspecies and Cultivars

Two subspecies and two varieties of Agave americana are recognized by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families:[8]

  • Agave americana subsp. americana
  • Agave americana subsp. protamericana Gentry
  • Agave americana var. expansa (Jacobi) Gentry
  • Agave americana var. oaxacensis Gentry

Cultivars include:[9][10]

  • 'Marginata' with yellow stripes along the margins of each leaf
  • 'Mediopicta' agm[11] with a broad cream central stripe
  • 'Mediopicta Alba' agm[12] with a central white band
  • 'Mediopicta Aurea' with a central yellow band
  • 'Striata' with multiple yellow to white stripes along the leaves
  • 'Variegata' agm[13] with white edges on the leaves.

(those marked agm, as well as the parent species,[14] have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit).

Uses

Tools used to obtain agave's ixtle fibers, at the Museo de Arte Popular, Mexico City D.F.

Culinary

If the flower stem is cut without flowering, a sweet liquid called aguamiel ("honey water") gathers in the heart of the plant. This may be fermented to produce the drink called pulque. The leaves also yield fibers, known as pita, which are suitable for making rope, matting, coarse cloth and are used for embroidery of leather in a technique known as piteado. Both pulque and maguey fiber were important to the economy of pre-Columbian Mexico.

In the region of Tequila, agaves are called mezcales. The high-alcohol product of agave distillation is called mezcal; Agave americana is one of several agaves used for distillation. A mezcal called tequila, is produced from Agave tequilana, commonly called "blue agave". There are many different types of mezcal some of which may be flavored with the very pungentmezcal worm.[15] Mezcal and tequila, although also produced from agave plants, are different from pulque in their technique for extracting the sugars from the heart of the plant, and in that they are distilled spirits. In mezcal and tequila production, the sugars are extracted from the piñas (or hearts) by heating them in ovens, rather than by collecting aguamiel from the plant's cut stalk. Thus if one were to distill pulque, it would not be a form of mezcal, but rather a different drink.

Agave nectar, also called agave syrup, is marketed as a natural form of sugar with a low glycemic index that is due to its high fructose content.[16]

Heraldry

The plant figures in the coat of arms of Don Diego de Mendoza, a Native American governor of the village of Ajacuba, Hidalgo state.[17]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agave americana.

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Agave americana L.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2005-05-23. Retrieved 2010-01-12. 
  2. ↑ Tropicos Agave americana
  3. ↑ Plant list Agave americana
  4. ↑ Bailey, L.H.; Bailey, E.Z.; the staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan, New York.
  5. ↑ Irish, Gary (2000). Agaves, Yuccas, and Related Plants: A Gardener's Guide. Timber Press. pp. 94–97. ISBN 978-0-88192-442-8. 
  6. ↑ RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 1405332964. 
  7. ↑ "Agave americana (American century plant)". Native Plant Database. Retrieved 2013-06-11. 
  8. ↑ Search for "Agave americana", "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2012-12-12. 
  9. ↑ Vermeulen, Nico. 1998. The Complete Encyclopedia of Container Plants, pp. 36-37. Netherlands: Rebo International. ISBN 90-366-1584-4
  10. ↑ Royal Horticultural Society Database : Agave americana, retrieved 2011-07-28
  11. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Agave americana 'Mediopicta'". Retrieved 2013-06-11. 
  12. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba'". Retrieved 2013-06-11. 
  13. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Agave americana 'Variegata'". Retrieved 2013-06-11. 
  14. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Agave americana". Retrieved 2013-06-11. 
  15. ↑ Escamoles and Maguey Worms; http://www.laweekly.com/squidink/2011/06/21/escamoles-and-maguey-worms-john-sedlar-on-the-joy-of-eating-bugs
  16. ↑ Oudhia, P., 2007. Agave americana L. In: Schmelzer, G.H. & Gurib-Fakim, A. (Editors). Prota 11(1): Medicinal plants/Plantes médicinales 1. [CD-Rom]. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands.
  17. ↑ pacbell.net/nelsnfam/mexico

External links

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