Agave is a genus of more than 200 recognized species that occur from Canada to the desiccated Southwest United States down in the south through Mexico to Central America . Most species grow in the desert part of the United States and Mexico . They are closely related to the Yucca flora .
Description
Agave plants are fleshy - leaved succulents . They form dense rosette of leaves that have dentition running up the edge , finish in a sharp distributor point on the end . The interior of the leaves are filled with a stringy material that holds wet . Agave leaves are usually green , milklike - light-green or blue - green . ripe plants create pups that come forth around the foundation from the roots of the female parent plant . These can be dug up and replant .
Flowering
Most agaves only blossom once in their living then go such as A. deserti , the century plant . Although it does not take a century to bloom , it may take up to eight to 20 old age for the plant to blossom . A few species of agave will bloom several times .
The flowers of the agave are usually pollinated by squash racquet , with a few species pollinated by insects . The flowers appear on spike heel emerging from the heart of the little potato and normally raise to several feet high above the plant . The peak spike on an A. weberi at Boyce Thompson Arboretum , Arizona , was measured in May 2006 at 26 feet .
Adaptations
The slurred leave of absence are the main adaptation of the agave . The interior of the leaves holds water to keep the plant alive in the hot desert mood it lives in . The slurred program on the leaves reduces urine loss and protect the plant from sunburn in the full desert sun .
The sharp tooth present along the leafage margins and the keen capitulum on the remainder of each foliage protect it from large predators .
Uses
Agaves are used in the American southwest as ornamental bush in traffic island and along wayside . They are everlasting because they are relatively alimony free and do not need to be watered . An often - see species used for road planting is A. Americana because of its adaptability and tolerance of pie-eyed soil and cooler mood .
Some species of agave can be reap and corrode for food . This was a traditional food source for some Native American tribes . The fibers in the leaves of a few specie are used to make born rope fibre .
Weber’s Blue Agave
Weber ’s blue agave ( A. tequilana ) is believably the most wide known and agriculturally of import of all the agave plants . This is the plant from which tequila is made . There are no known wild populations of this works ; it only survives in cultivation .
Under the " National Treatment and Market Access for Goods , Distinctive Products " section of the NAFTA arrangement , tequila can only be sold as tequila if it is farm from Weber ’s puritanic century plant in Mexico in accordance with Mexican law . This is the same jurisprudence govern the naming and location that is specific to the production of Canadian and Tennessee whiskeys .
References
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