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''Agave'' (US: ,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Agave - Definition of agave by Merriam-Webster )〕 UK: ,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=agave - definition of agave in English from the Oxford dictionary )〕 Anglo-Hispanic: 〔An Anglo-Hispanic pronunciation. ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607.〕) is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies (see semelparity). Some species are known by the name century plant.〔Bailey, L.H.; Bailey, E.Z.; the staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. ''Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada''. Macmillan, New York.〕 In the APG III system, the genus is placed in the subfamily Agavoideae of the broadly circumscribed family Asparagaceae.〔Mark W. Chase, James L. Reveal, and Michael F. Fay. 2009. "A subfamilial classification for the expanded asparagalean families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae, and Xanthorrhoeaceae". ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' 161(2):132-136.〕 Some authors prefer to place it in the segregate family Agavaceae. Traditionally, it was circumscribed to be composed of about 166 species, but it is now usually understood to have about 208 species.〔Sara V. Good-Avila, Valeria Souza, Brandon S. Gaut, and Luis E. Eguiarte. 2006. "Timing and rate of speciation in ''Agave'' (Agavaceae)". ''PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA)'' 103(24):9124-9129. 〕 == Description == Chiefly Mexican, agaves are also native to the southern and western United States and central and tropical South America. They are succulents with a large rosette of thick, fleshy leaves, each ending generally in a sharp point and with a spiny margin; the stout stem is usually short, the leaves apparently springing from the root. Along with plants from the related genus ''Yucca'', various ''Agave'' species are popular ornamental plants. Each rosette is monocarpic and grows slowly to flower only once. During flowering, a tall stem or "mast" ("quiote" in Mexico) grows from the center of the leaf rosette and bears a large number of short, tubular flowers. After development of fruit, the original plant dies, but suckers are frequently produced from the base of the stem, which become new plants. It is a common misconception that agaves are cacti. They are not related to cacti, nor are they closely related to ''Aloe'' whose leaves are similar in appearance. ''Agave'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species, including ''Batrachedra striolata'', which has been recorded on ''A. shawii''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Agave」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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