Agave americana
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
century plant
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Monocots
Flower colours
Yellow
Detailed description
Very large perennial plant with rosette growth form. The leaves are up to 2 m long, are fleshy and triangular in cross section. The leaves are leathery, glaucous and have coarse teeth on the margins. Leaves are usually dull green, although a variegated form is also present. After 10 to 15 years vegetative growth it produces a large woody spike (scape) up to 10 m tall with a terminal panicle of many yellow flowers. Black seeds are produced in 5 cm long capsules.
Similar taxa
Very distinctive plant. Is similar to Furcrea foetida, but Agave does not produce bulbils and does not have a trunk at all. Other rosette form herbs are present in NZ e.g.. Beschcorneria yuccoides, but none are as large or as well armed as Agave americana.
Habitat
Terrestrial. Thrives in dry conditions, coastal cliffs, sand dunes.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Flowering
February, March.
Year naturalised
1869
Origin
Mexico
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Tolerances
Tolerates salt and very dry conditions.
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. rosettes last for 10-15 years, they die after flowering and are replaced by lateral rosettes. Spreads both vegetatively and by seed. Seeds are produced in panicles high on the flowering scape. Dispersed by gravity and humans.
Other information
Etymology
agave: From the Greek aganos ‘noble’, referring to its stately form when in flower
americana: Of South America
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
AGAAME