Does an Agave Plant Flower?

Agave Flowers

• Agave plants bear flowers on extremely long stalks, or inflorescences. Many experts describe these stalks as asparagus-like, though the tallest of them resemble trees as much as they do asparagus. Agave stalks grow from the center of the flower and reach mature heights of 6 to 40 feet. It takes at least 10 to 15 years for an agave plant to flower. The triggering mechanism for agave blossoming is unknown. No one knows why they flower when they do, or when a specimen will flower.

Flowering Habit

• Agaves have a monocarpic flowering habit. This means that a single agave plant flowers once and dies immediately after flowering. When agave plants die, they leave offsets, commonly called pups, in the soil as a means of propagation. Agave offsets resemble new plants growing alongside full-grown plants, but actually constitute new growths sprouting from the roots of the mother plant. When the mother plant dies, these offsets stay alive and grow into independent agave specimens that eventually flower and create offsets themselves.

Flower Description

• Agave plants bear elongated, tubular flowers on leafless branches or, as is the case with certain species, on single, spiked stalks. These flowers appear in various colors depending on the species of agave, though are usually yellow, rose or white. Flowers blossom at the terminal end, or absolute end point, of branches and may be spread in a diameter as wide as 6 feet from the central stalk.

Additional Information

• Agave Americana earned itself the common name "century plant" on account of the commonly held folk belief that the plant only flowers once every 100 years. This is technically true, because agave plants only flower once in their lifetime. Though agaves only flower once, they often bear colorful variegated foliage. These leaves range in color from dark green to blue green and commonly bear stripes in white, cream, yellow or chartreuse. Gardeners in warm regions grow a number of agave species. Agaves are drought-tolerant, though are easily damaged by cold.