Furcraea foetida (L.) Haw.

Robust perennials not dying after flowering. Trunk short, 0.8–1.3 m × 10 cm. Leaves many in a rosette, 1–2.5 m × 10–20 cm, broadly lanceolate, stiff, flat towards tip, deltoid (in T. S.) towards base, margins with ± regularly spaced, horny spines curved towards leaf-tip, or margins entire; tip pungent and horny. Panicle open, tall, erect, to 10m high, ± 14 cm diam. at base, contracting abruptly to ± 9 cm then tapering gradually, branches glabrous. Flowers 3–4 cm long, pendulous on short pedicels c. 1 cm long, strongly scented, whitish-green, perianth fleshy. Fruit not seen but bulbils freely produced in axils of bracteoles, with leaf-margins spiny or entire.

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

Flowering: Oct.