Agave in flower
Title | Info |
---|---|
Common name | Century Plant, Agave |
Scientific name | Agave |
Taxonomic group | Agavaceae |
Source | Dan L. Perlman |
Change over time | Phenology; Life cycles |
Lessons | Life Histories |
Date | 1999 |
Location | Monteverde,Costa Rica,North America |
Century plant in flower, Costa Rica. Agaves, sometimes known as century plants due to their long lives, exhibit an interesting life history strategy. They live for decades without reproducing, growing large, spiny, and long-lived leaves as seen at the bottom of this image. Then, they grow a single massive flowering spike, put out a huge inflorescence or group of flowers, fruit, and die. Although annual plants typically display this grow-and-reproduce-once strategy, known as semelparity, relatively few long-lived plants are semelparous. In this case, decades of life go into a single reproductive event.