Tequila agave
Agave tequilana
''Agave tequilana'', commonly called blue agave or tequila agave, is an agave plant that is an important economic product of Jalisco, Mexico, due to its role as the base ingredient of tequila, a popular distilled beverage. The high production of sugars, mostly fructose, in the core of the plant is the main characteristic that makes it suitable for the preparation of alcoholic beverages.
The tequila agave is native to Jalisco, Mexico. The plant favors altitudes of more than 1,500 metres and grows in rich and sandy soils. Blue agave plants grow into large succulents, with spiky fleshy leaves, that can reach over 2 metres in height. Agaves sprout a stalk when about five years old that can grow an additional 5 metres ; they are topped with yellow flowers.
This stalk is cut off from commercial plants so the plant will put more energy into the heart.
The flowers are pollinated by a native bat and produce several thousand seeds per plant. The plant then dies. The shoots on commercial plants are removed when about a year old to allow the heart to grow larger. The plants are then reproduced by planting these shoots; this has led to a considerable loss of genetic diversity in cultivated blue agave.
It is rare for one to be kept as a houseplant to flower, but a 50-year-old blue agave in Boston grew a 30-foot stalk requiring a hole in the greenhouse roof and flowered in the summer of 2006.
The tequila agave is native to Jalisco, Mexico. The plant favors altitudes of more than 1,500 metres and grows in rich and sandy soils. Blue agave plants grow into large succulents, with spiky fleshy leaves, that can reach over 2 metres in height. Agaves sprout a stalk when about five years old that can grow an additional 5 metres ; they are topped with yellow flowers.
This stalk is cut off from commercial plants so the plant will put more energy into the heart.
The flowers are pollinated by a native bat and produce several thousand seeds per plant. The plant then dies. The shoots on commercial plants are removed when about a year old to allow the heart to grow larger. The plants are then reproduced by planting these shoots; this has led to a considerable loss of genetic diversity in cultivated blue agave.
It is rare for one to be kept as a houseplant to flower, but a 50-year-old blue agave in Boston grew a 30-foot stalk requiring a hole in the greenhouse roof and flowered in the summer of 2006.
