Agavaceae
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Authority
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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Family
Agavaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Family Description - Much like the Liliaceae, but coarse and evergreen, variously acaulescent to shrubby or even arborescent, the stout stem commonly with secondary growth of monocotyledonous type; lvs perennial and ± strongly thickened, parallel-veined, usually leathery or firm-succulent, often spine-tipped and/or with prickly or loosely fibrous margins; vascular bundles with a well developed fibrous cap at the phloem pole; fls borne in rather massive, often dense racemes or panicles or heads terminating the stem(s), or axillary and subterminal; tep in 2 cycles of 3, all petaloid, often thick and fleshy, distinct or connate below to form a tube; stamens 6; filaments adnate to the base of the tep or to the perianth-tube; ovary mostly trilocular with axile placentation and several to many anatropous or sometimes campylotropous ovules per locule, sometimes each locule vertically divided into two locelli by an ingrowth from the carpellary midrib. 18/600.
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Common Names
The agave family