Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Furcraea foetida (L.) Haw. (1812)
Synonymy:
  • Agave foetida L., Sp. Pl. 323 (1753)
  • = Furcraea gigantea Vent. (1793)
Vernacular Name(s):
Giant false agave; Mauritius hemp
 Description

Robust perennials not dying after flowering. Trunk short, 0.8–1.3 m × 10 cm. Leaves many in a rosette, 1–2.5 m × 10–20 cm, broadly lanceolate, stiff, flat towards tip, deltoid (in T. S.) towards base, margins with ± regularly spaced, horny spines curved towards leaf-tip, or margins entire; tip pungent and horny. Panicle open, tall, erect, to 10m high, ± 14 cm diam. at base, contracting abruptly to ± 9 cm then tapering gradually, branches glabrous. Flowers 3–4 cm long, pendulous on short pedicels c. 1 cm long, strongly scented, whitish-green, perianth fleshy. Fruit not seen but bulbils freely produced in axils of bracteoles, with leaf-margins spiny or entire.

[From: Healy and Edgar (1980) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 3.]

 Biostatus
Exotic
 Phenology

Flowering: Oct.

 Bibliography
Howell, C. 2008: Consolidated list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. DOC Research & Development Series 292: 42.
Linnaeus, C. 1753: Species Plantarum. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.