PlantFiles: Agave, Century Plant, American Aloe, Maguey
Agave americana

Zone 9b, Coastal Otago, New Zealand. After reading these other notes Im very surprised! I know of no one in this country who has experienced the irritating effect of this plant's sap, and have handled it myself without incident, despite having highly reactive skin. I am certain the plants we have are A Americana- perhaps, like many agave species down here, we have a clone that is both ubiquitous and relatively inoffensive.
Grows well in all but the coldest areas, survives being frozen solid, impervious to wind and salt spray, always looks good in the background of a succulent/exotic collection. So I dont have too many bad things to say about it. Grows to massive proportions given decent water- I have seen them 2m high here.
Also I have never seen the remote suckering habit- it always pups close to the parent plant, rather than coming up bamboo-style some distance away. I would class it as medium-prolific and easy enough to contain, even in a range of soils. Perhaps with our regular water its rhizomes dont need to wander far.
Spikes are mighty and dangerous- watch your eyes while weeding as they tend to disappear visually front-on. Snip off the lower leaf spikes to prevent spearing your cats/dogs/kids.

This is the first time that I've had one of my own, but my grandmother had one when I was growing up. Sorry to all of you who didn't know about the sap. It was always an understood rule that we couldn't mess with that plant. (My grandmother had quite the green thumb and grew anything and everything, even things she was told could not grow in the south) We could walk up to it and look or even feel the leaves, just do NOT break anything.

I am not a fan of this plant in my yard; its big, invasive, and thorny. I enjoy it's presence in other's yards and the blooms are incredible. Having said that...I do have one in my current yard (rental). It is in an area that I only need to access to turn the sprinkler on/off so I don't have much contact with it. Today I needed to trim off some of those darned leaves and I used a hand saw. EEK! Severe itchiness hardly describes the sensation. I wanted out of my skin! (torso, thigh and sawing arm were affected) After applying alcohol and cortisone cream I ended up in the shower with soap and cold water. My husband poured vinegar on my 'itchy' parts with no help. I sent him out to my garden to retrieve a big Aloe Vera leaf. Splitting open the leaf (remove the thorns! - missed a couple the first time) and rubbing it over the dry, itchy areas relieved the itching after about 5 minutes of constant application. It's now been just over 5 hours later and there doesn't seem to be redness or bumps...yet. The skin seems a little 'wind burnt' but no itching or other discomfort. For the record...after my aloe treatment I put on proper clothes and went out to continue my trimming. Ended up trimming a little extra so I won't have to do this chore anytime in the near future. I love my Aloe!

Tip for the day: If you are using a chain saw to take out this thing, do NOT wear shorts :)

Wish I had researched this before I had started. Oh well, I am glad to see I am not the only one to learn this painful lesson.

One thing, I washed my legs in COLD water, not hot. Hot water opens up the pores. Washed with soap and water 4 times, still itching, but perhaps 80% less.

Then put on 5% cortizone cream and I'm doing OK about 1 hour after the intitial contact.

Beautiful plant and I respect it even more now. Just wish there was a better way to get rid of it where I don't want it :)

Does anyone have any experience making tequila from this one?

I have to say I have mixed opinions about this plant. On the positive side, it can be an impressive, imposing, turquoise landscape plant(s). I have a friend who uses this species to wall off his yard from would-be plant thieves and it's a pretty impressive wall of spines. You would have to be crazy to try to cross it. And it's incredibly easy and fast growing

... but for me, who does not live on a 100 acres of property, this is NOT a good landscape plant, but a weed. It is nearly impossible to get rid of once you stick it in the ground. It comes up everywhere, and sometimes 10-15' away from the mother plant. Rip it out, and roots still make more plants forever. And the new suckers love to come up right next to other valuable less durable plants that don't like having their roots messed with, making it even trickier to get rid of. Impervious to round up. Pruning it is painful and dangerous. Can't recommend this one unless you have the space, or a large pot to keep it in forever.

I have not grown this plant. It can also be propagated by bulbils which form on the bloom stalk.

I agree with the previous poster's warning about the sap. This is a very impressive prehistoric looking plant, and grows well in the southwest US. However, be careful not to get the sap on your skin.

Last weekend I was helping a friend remove an enormous cluster of these from his backyard. The fibers are very strong and at their base the large plants are quite tough. We needed to use a pickaxe to break it up and get it out. We were unaware of the toxicity of the sap and got quite a bit on our skin. It started itching badly within minutes, and by the next day it was a bad rash that started blistering. One week later the rash is still pretty bad.

The good news is that I can't imagine coming into contact with the sap without doing serious, intentional damage to the plant. It's not like you're going to have a problem simply by planting these. Just use caution when removing them.

Don't get me wrong, we love the plant - it is beautiful - but be very, very careful not to get any of the juices on the inside of it onto your skin. My husband, a landscape designer, is in absolute misery right now. He was removing a century plant (agave americana) from a customer's landscape and had to cut it. When he did, he got juice all down his legs and they immediately began to burn. He tried running water over it, and it just made it worse. He came home and showered and washed it off w/soap and water, and it didn't help. It has been over 24 hours, and he has a rash so bad on his legs that he can't even bend his knees. He's also been very sluggish and a little nauseated all day. He went to the doctor and she gave him a steroid to take down the swelling. I looked it up on a toxicity website, and apparently, it is going to develop white blisters all over (which it's already begun to do) and will remain painful and itchy for a good five days. The rash is supposed to subside to light red splotches in about 12 days and take up to 4 weeks to completely disappear. This is apparently an extremely toxic plant when in contact with human skin. So be VERY CAREFUL not to get it on you.

My husband brought his plant home in a pot. After moving it around in the back yard for quite a while to mow the grass and such, it took root and grew to an enourmous size - about 6 feet in diameter (mind you the pot is still there). One day we noticed this stalk growing up out of it. It passed the powerlines and eventually got so heavy it bent over. It flowered and later produced over 200 small plants which we will be potting and giving as holiday gifts - with a warning that they will grow very large. What an interesting plant!

So far I love my agave. We planted it 18 months ago. A neighbor has a huge one and this is a pup. Today I noticed that the flat part of the stalks have yellow bumps on it. Is this a fungus and if so, what do I do and if not, what is it?

These century plants are growing in a "Century Plant Grove" in the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ.

'Century Plant' is a misnomer. Their life span is more like 35 years.

It´s so hard to find accurate informations about Agave on the net! I have some national and foreign books of ornamental plants, and I can´t identify the plant, which pictures I just posted. The closest I got is Agave americana, but I´m not sure.

What I know is that I have a small plant of A. americana, with variegate leaves, that started as a bud from the inflorescence of an older plant. What a tough little plant! I wasn´t expecting it to survive, but now I have to replant it in a bigger vase.

This is a favorite plant of mine. I’ve had this plant since 1995. I should say that I also have the Variegated American Century Plant, which I think is what most people think of when they think A. americana. It’s pretty hardy, although it does require plenty of direct sunlight. It's definitely a plant that is immune to aphid attack, even though, contrary to popular belief, not all succulents are. I have empty pots to prove that. It has produced two very healthy sprouts, which I removed (can you say: hacksaw) and repotted, and is working on two new sprouts right now. My observation is that it’ll only sprout when the light is really good. You also have to warn people that the plant has a real bite, especially the end thorns. They’re so big and sharp you could almost use them for arrowheads.
These plants grow to deceptively old ages (Hint: They call it the Century Plant for a reason) and very large sizes. It's deceptive when they're young anyway. You wouldn't think that this little thing could live for more than 100 years and get to the size of a Volkswagen. The sprout you get could have a history that in two or three generations, goes back to the American Revolution. Pretty neat. I saw one in a greenhouse laboratory that was almost 10 feet across and was quite old. It’s not unlikely that this plant may outlive the owner. So, in a nutshell, it’s an easy, attractive and productive plant that will last a long, long (did I mention long?) time.

Tom

Overall, I like this plant, but they can be be invasive and grow quite large if grown in the ground. They can be kept smaller when grown in pots.

This looks similar to my plant except my plant has the green stripe in the center of the leaf (blade?) and outer edge is yellow. It is called "Variegated American Century
Plant".

The flower spike can grow up to 15 feet but the plant has to be many years old by then. The leaves too get wider and the plant would need 6-8 feet across. When these are small, it is an attractive plant that requires little or no attention.