CACTUSES AND OTHER SUCCULENTS I57 



The century plants are well adapted for this 

 because of their symmetrical habit. A large 

 century plant will have forty or fifty fleshy 

 leaves, each about three or four feet long and 

 three to four inches across, which gradually 

 taper to a point that is tipped with a very 

 sharp spine; the edges also have a few short 

 spines. They form a large rosette which 

 sits on the ground. The leaves are of a 

 light glaucous green colour in the type, 

 but there are several varieties known as 

 picta, variegata, and recurvata. Some of 

 the varieties have a more or less broad 

 yellowy stripe down through the centre of 

 the leaf, while in others the leaves are edged 

 with yellow. 



Should you be so fortunate as to have a 

 plant flower, do not be surprised that it dies 

 as soon as the seeds mature. It always does 

 this, but the plant may be perpetuated by 

 the numerous suckers which will be found 

 about the base of the old plant. 



The flowers are borne in clusters at the 

 top of a tall stout stem and have a weird can- 

 delabra-like effect. 



There are about one hundred and fifty 

 diff^erent species of agave, varying in the 



