Agave HAVARDIANA - Havard's agave, Agave havardiana.
Agave is a genus of evergreen perennial herbaceous plants in the family Asparagaceae, comprising about 300 species distributed across the Caribbean islands and in arid regions of North, Central, and South America. In cultivation, no more than 50 species are widespread.
Representatives of the genus form rosettes of fleshy leaves, often with prickly margins and sharp tips. Leaves can be broad or narrow, colored in gray-green, glaucous, or green shades, sometimes with variegated coloration. The stem, as a rule, is shortened. The plants are adapted to prolonged droughts, spreading outward with powerful roots, absorbing moisture from surface soil layers and storing it in the leaves.
Flowering occurs at 15-20 years of age, after which the plant dies. A tall flower stalk emerges from the rosette of robust leaves, bearing at its top an inflorescence in the form of a panicle or raceme, usually yellow or cream-colored. The fruits are capsules with flat seeds. After seed maturation, the aerial parts of the mother plant die off, and daughter offshoots grow from the rhizomes.
Havard's agave is a slow-growing species that forms rosettes low to the ground, sometimes producing suckers, but without forming large colonies like some other species. The leaves are up to 70 cm (28 in) in length, with teeth along the margins and on the tips. Flowering stalks can reach 7 m (23 ft) in height, with yellow or yellow-green flowers. Fruits are dry, oblong capsules up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long.