Sisalagaave – Agave sisalana

Roots are fibrous, originating from the bottom of the stem, spreading horizontally and concentrated in the upper 30-40 cm of the soil. Stem is ca. 120 cm high and 20 cm thick with an apical meristem. Rhizomes arise from buds in the axils of leaves below ground level and produce young plants or suckers within about 2 m from the mother plant. Leaves form a close rosette of about 100 leaves, which are succulent, arranged spirally, sessile, rigid, linear-lanceolate, 75-120 cm long, dark bluish green, concave above, convex below, usually with spineless margins. Leaf bases are thick, fleshy, bulbous, triangular in cross-section. Leaf blades gradually broaden to middle (up to 15 cm) and narrow towards terminal sharp, dark brown spine, 1-3 cm long. At the end of the life of the plant, apical meristem produces a 3-8 m long flower-stalk that bears 20-40 flower-bearing branches, each with erect clusters of yellow protandrous flowers. Perianth is pale green, tubular, 5-6 cm long, 6-lobed. Stamens are 6, attached to base of tube and exserted 6-8 cm above perianth. Style is 6-8 cm long, stigma 3-lobed. Fruit (rarely produced) is an ellipsoid capsule, tapering at base, green and fleshy when young and black and dry when ripe, with about 150 seeds. Bulbils sized up to 10 cm normally appear on the flowering branches when flowers have abscissed. They consist of a meristem, 6-8 reduced leaves, and rudimentary adventitious roots.