Agave americana has a tall flowering stalk with green buds above clusters of yellow flowers among surrounding trees

Agave americana (Century Plant)

Native to Arizona, Texas, and Mexico, this evergreen succulent perennial forms a large rosette with sharp teeth along the leaf edges and a strong spine at each tip. It usually flowers after about 10 to 25 years, producing a branched stalk about 20 to 40 feet tall with greenish-yellow flowers. The flowering rosette dies, but offsets at its base survive. Its leaf fibers are used for rope and textiles. It has naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa, southern China, and parts of Europe, becoming invasive in southeastern Queensland and coastal South Australia. The sap can cause painful skin reactions. It holds the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. Photographed in Bogotá, Colombia.

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Agave americana has a tall branched flower stalk rising from a large leaf rosette among palms and flowering garden plants

Agave americana has clusters of greenish-yellow flowers with long yellow stamens on branches of an upright green stalk

Agave americana has an upright rosette of gray-green leaves with yellow margins and downward-curving outer tips in a lawn

Agave americana has two rosettes of gray-green leaves with yellow margins and curled outer tips among garden grasses

Agave americana has broad gray-green leaves with yellow margins and sharp edge teeth beneath a neighboring spiky plant

Agave americana has green buds above open yellow flowers and faded brown flower clusters against a blue sky