AGAVE  , a large botanical genus of the natural

order Amaryllidaceae, chiefly Mexican, but occurring also in the southern and western United States and in central and tropical South America . The plants have a large rosette of thick fleshy leaves generally ending in a sharp point and with a spiny margin; the stout stem is usually short, the leaves apparently springing from the root . They grow slowly and flower but once after a number of years, when a tall stem or " mast " grows from the centre of the leaf-rosette and bears a large number of shortly tubular flowers . After development of fruit the plant dies down, but suckers are frequently produced from the base of the stem which become new plants . The most familiar species is Agave americana (see fig.), a native of tropical America, the so-called century plant or American aloe (the maguey of Mexico) . The .number of years before flowering occurs depends on the vigour of the individual, the richness of the soil and the climate; during these years the plant is storing in its fleshy leaves the nourishment required for the effort of flowering . During the development of the inflor-escence there is a rush of sap to the base of the young flower-stalk . In the case of A. americana and other species this is used by the Mexicans to make their national beverage, pulque; the flower shoot is cut out and the sap collected and subsequently fermented . By distillation a spirit called mescal is prepared . The leaves of several species yield fibre, as for instance, A. rigida var. sisalana, sisal hemp (q.v.), A. decipiens, false sisal hemp; A. americana is the source of pita fibre, and is used as a fibre plant in Mexico, the West Indies and southern Europe . The flowering stem of the last named, dried and cut in slices, forms Agave americana, Century plant or American aloe . About 4 nat. size .

1, Flower; 2, same flower split open above the ovary; 3, ovary cut across; 1, 2, and 3, about i nat. size . From the Botanical

Magazine, by permission of Lovell Reeve and Co . natural razor strops, and the expressed juice of the leaves will lather in water like soap . In the Madras Presidency the plant is extensively used for hedges along railroads . Agave americana, century plant, was introduced into Europe about the middle of the 16th century and is now widely cultivated for its handsome appearance; in the variegated forms the leaf has a white or yellow marginal or central stripe from base to apex . As the leaves unfold from the centre of the rosette the impression of the marginal spines is very conspicuous on the still erect younger leaves . The plants are usually grown in tubs and put out in the summer months, but in the winter require to be protected from frost . They mature very slowly and die after flowering, but are easily propagated by the offsets from the base of the stem .