century plant

noun

any New World plant of the genus Agave, requiring many years to mature and blooming once before dying, especially the widely cultivated species A. americana, having leaves in a basal rosette and a tall flower stalk.

Origin of century plant

An Americanism dating back to 1755–65

Words nearby century plant

centuplicate, centurial, centuried, centurion, century, century plant, centésimo, ceo, ceorl, cep, cepaceous

Example sentences from the Web for century plant

  • Name from , noble,—not inappropriate as applied to A. Americana, the Century-plant.

    The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States |Asa Gray

  • She had not time to evolve a century-plant, or elaborate an oak-tree, before man would be upon it again.

    Upon The Tree-Tops |Olive Thorne Miller

  • In one garden that we visited we saw a century-plant 222 in bud.

    Palmetto-Leaves |Harriet Beecher Stowe

  • Well seasoned he is, of course, and suitable as a prop for a century-plant, but not for a scarlet runner!

    Polly Oliver's Problem |Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

British Dictionary definitions for century plant

century plant

noun

an agave, Agave americana, native to tropical America but naturalized elsewhere, having very large spiny greyish leaves and greenish flowers on a tall fleshy stalk. It blooms only once in its life, after 10 to 30 years (formerly thought to flower after a century) Also called: American aloe