Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Agave americana

Common name

Century plant, American aloe

Family

Asparagaceae

Where found

Woodland, pastures, grasslands, old habitations, roadsides, and along streams. Mainly Sydney area. Occasionally elsewhere. Doubtfully naturalised in the ACT.

Notes

Introduced perennial herb, 2–12 m tall when flowering, rhizomatous. Sometimes with a short woody stem. Leaf margins with spiny teeth, leaf tips with a sharp pointed spine. Leaves in a basal rosette, 100-200 cm long, 150-250 mm wide, hairless, somewhat fleshy. Leaf-like bracts alternating up the flower stalks. Flowers 70-105 mm long, tubular, with 6 lobes, yellow or greenish yellow, in a many-flowered branched cluster. Flowering summer to autumn.

Family Agavaceae in PlantNET.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Agave~americana  (accessed 2 April 2021)