龍舌蘭

Chiefly Mexican, agaves occur also in the southern and western United States and in central and tropical South America.龍舌蘭主要在墨西哥，也發生在美國南部和西部以及中南美洲和熱帶地區。 The plants have a large rosette of thick fleshy leaves, each ending generally in a sharp point and with a spiny margin;這些植物有一朵厚而肉質的葉子的大蓮座叢，每節通常以一個尖點和多刺的邊緣結束。 the stout stem is usually short, the leaves apparently springing from the root.粗壯的莖通常短，葉子顯然從根中彈出。 Along with plants from the related genus Yucca, various Agave species are popular ornamental plants.除相關絲蘭屬植物外，各種龍舌蘭也很受歡迎。
Each rosette is monocarpic and grows slowly to flower only once.每個蓮座叢都是單生的，生長緩慢，只能開花一次。 During flowering a tall stem or "mast" grows from the center of the leaf rosette and bears a large number of shortly tubular flowers.在開花期間，高的莖或“肥大”從葉蓮座叢的中心生長，並結出大量短管狀花。 After development of fruit the original plant dies, but suckers are frequently produced from the base of the stem which become new plants.果實發育後，原始植物死亡，但經常從莖的基部生產吸盤，成為新的植物。
It is a common misconception that Agaves are cacti.人們普遍誤認為龍舌蘭是仙人掌。 Agaves are closely related to the lily and amaryllis families, and are not related to cacti.龍舌蘭與百合和孤挺花家族密切相關，與仙人掌無關。
龍舌蘭物種被包括鱗翅目Batrachedra striolata在內的某些鱗翅目（蝴蝶和蛾）物種的幼蟲用作食用植物，這已在A shawii上記錄。