Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asparagales Link
Family
Asparagaceae Juss.
 Subordinate Taxa
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Agave L., Sp. Pl. 323–324 (1753)
Synonymy:
  • = Manfreda Salisb.
  • = Littaea Tagl. (1816)
 Description

Stout succulent or fibrous perennials. Stem present, or lacking. Leaves crowded in rosettes, large, usually stiff and ± fleshy, leaf-tip ending in sharp spine, margins often toothed. Inflorescence a large raceme or much-branched panicle on a long scape. Flowers bisexual, greenish or brownish. Perianth-segments ± equal, usually green, ± connate into tube, persistent. Stamens 6. Ovary inferior, 3-locular; style filiform; stigma slightly 3-lobed; ovules many in each locule. Capsule loculicidal. Seeds many, thin, flat.

[From: Healy and Edgar (1980) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 3.]

 Biostatus
Exotic
Number of species in New Zealand within Agave L.
CategoryNumber
Exotic: Fully Naturalised1
Total1
 Bibliography
Linnaeus, C. 1753: Species Plantarum. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.
Mabberley, D.J. 2008: Mabberley's plant book, a portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses. Edition 3. Cambridge University Press.