Agavaceae
Agave Family
The Agavaceae family (Agave Family) is a botanical family placed in the order Asparagales. In the SASYA catalogue it spans 12 species across 5 genera. Its members are predominantly shrubs. Well-represented genera include Agave, Dracaena and Sansevieria. Several members are valued in traditional medicine and grown in cultivation. Familiar examples include Century Plant, Caribbean Agave and Sisal Hemp.
Browse all 12 species ↓
Thick, fibrous, often spine-tipped rosette leaves on succulent-adjacent herbs and shrubs; tall flowering stalks, sometimes many metres high and produced only once in the plant's life, bear numerous tubular, six-parted flowers.
Many species flower only once after years or decades of vegetative growth, then die (monocarpy) — the towering agave flower spike is a once-in-a-lifetime event for the plant.
Which Agavaceae species is this?
Answer what you can see and narrow it down to a single Agavaceae species.
To check whether a plant belongs to Agavaceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.
Learn the full family-identification methodTypical leaf characters
- ArrangementVariable
- TypeVariable
- MarginVariable
VenationParallel
Characters typical of the family — individual species can vary.
Notable members
Families that can look similar
Orchidaceae
Compare against Orchidaceae when the plant shares similar leaves, flowers, or fruit. Confirm by checking the full family pattern.
Compare OrchidaceaeAmaryllidaceae
Compare against Amaryllidaceae when the plant shares similar leaves, flowers, or fruit. Confirm by checking the full family pattern.
Compare AmaryllidaceaeAsparagaceae
Compare against Asparagaceae when the plant shares similar leaves, flowers, or fruit. Confirm by checking the full family pattern.
Compare AsparagaceaeIridaceae
Compare against Iridaceae when the plant shares similar leaves, flowers, or fruit. Confirm by checking the full family pattern.
Compare IridaceaeAll 12 species in AGAVACEAE
- Century Plant, American AloeAgave americana
- Caribbean AgaveAgave angustifolia
- Sisal Hemp, Hemp PlantAgave sisalana
- Cornstalk DracaenaDracaena fragrans
- Wild DracaenaDracaena terniflora
- Snake Plant, Mother-In-Law's TongueDracaena trifasciata
- Giant Cabuya, Mauritius Hemp, Green AloeFurcraea foetida
- Indian Bowstring HempSansevieria roxburghiana
- Snake Plant, Mother-In-Law's TongueSansevieria trifasciata
- Adam's NeedleYucca aloifolia
- Agave cantula
- Sansevieria hyacinthoides
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