agave

Noun

agave (plural agaves)

1. Any plant in the large, variable genus Agave of succulent plants, commonly armed with formidable prickles, flowering at maturity after several years, and generally dying thereafter; large species, such as the maguey or century plant, (Agave americana), produce gigantic inflorescences. Several are of economic importance as sources of fibre such as sisal, and alcoholic beverages such as tequila.
   • On the mountains a few junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low, fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns.1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961...
   • The work of cutting the leaves, even from these isolated plants, was in the nature of an ordeal. Every member of the party took a knife and attacked the thicket, no one escaping the experience of bleeding hands and arms and of more or less injured clothing. If there is any place where strong...1893 Charles Richards Dodge, A Report on the Leaf Fibers of the United States. Pub: Govt. print. office Washington

   Synonyms:

   century plant