century plant

noun

1. any New World plant of the genus Agave, requiring many years to mature and blooming once before dying, especially the widely cultivated species A. americana, having leaves in a basal rosette and a tall flower stalk.

century plant

noun

1. an agave, Agave americana, native to tropical America but naturalized elsewhere, having very large spiny greyish leaves and greenish flowers on a tall fleshy stalk. It blooms only once in its life, after 10 to 30 years (formerly thought to flower after a century) Also calledAmerican aloe

Word History and Origins

Origin of century plant¹

An Americanism dating back to 1755–65

Example Sentences

Name from , noble,—not inappropriate as applied to A. Americana, the Century-plant.

From Project Gutenberg

She had not time to evolve a century-plant, or elaborate an oak-tree, before man would be upon it again.

From Project Gutenberg

In one garden that we visited we saw a century-plant 222 in bud.

From Project Gutenberg

It bears its leaves in a symmetrical rosette, like a diminutive century-plant.

From Project Gutenberg

Well seasoned he is, of course, and suitable as a prop for a century-plant, but not for a scarlet runner!

From Project Gutenberg