Agave americana

Agave americana
	Agave americana
Systematics
Order :	Asparagales (Asparagales)
Family :	Asparagaceae (Asparagaceae)
Subfamily :	Agave family (Agavoideae)
Genre :	Agaves ( agave )
Subgenus :	agave
Type :	Agave americana
Scientific name
	Agave americana
	L.

Agave americana is a species in the genus of the Agave ( agave ).

description

Agave americana grows in rosettes with a short trunk and forms numerous runners . The leaf rosette reaches heights of 1 to 2 meters and a diameter of 2 to 3.7 meters. The mostly pointed leaves are lanceolate and narrowed over their thickened base. Some of the leaves are turned back above the center of the leaf blade. The light gray to light green, sometimes variegated leaves are flat or runny, smooth to slightly rough. They are usually 1 to 2 meters long and 15 to 25 centimeters wide. The leaf margins are wavy to notched and have teeth of different sizes that are 2 to 6 centimeters apart. The leaves end in a conical to awl, glossy brown to gray frosted terminal spine 3 to 5 centimeters long.

The 5 to 9 meter high inflorescence is paniculate, slender and straight. The 15 to 35 partial inflorescences are located in the upper third or the upper half of the inflorescence and are spread out. The slender single flowers are 7 to 10 centimeters long. Their yellow tepals have uneven tips 25 to 35 millimeters long. The funnel-shaped flower tube is 8 to 20 millimeters long.

Toxicity

The whole plant and especially the juice are considered to be less toxic.

Main active ingredients: saponins , spicy essential oil , 0.4-3% hecogenin and oxalic acid .

Effects on the skin and mucous membranes: The juice can cause severe skin irritation and conjunctivitis.

Systematics and distribution

Agave americana inflorescence

Agave americana is common in the United States and Mexico . It is cultivated worldwide in frost-free climates and is partially overgrown there.

The first scientific description was published in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum . The following subspecies and varieties are distinguished:

Agave americana subsp. americana
Agave americana subsp. protamericana gentry
Agave americana var. Expansa (Jacobi) Gentry
Agave americana var. Oaxacensis Gentry

Botanical history

Agave americana was one of the earliest succulent plants introduced to Europe after the discovery of America. Joachim Camerarius observed such an agave in a garden in Padua in 1561 . As early as 1588, an agave, probably an offshoot from Padua, was growing in his garden in Nuremberg , albeit under the name Aloe spinosa . Carolus Clusius described the plant as Aloe americana in 1576 .

A first illustration under the name Aloë ex America can be found in Rembert Dodoen's work Stirpium historiae pemptades sex from 1583. It was cultivated in many gardens and first blossomed in Pisa in 1583 . A first color illustration was shown in the Hortus Eystettensis in 1613 .

use

The main sapogenin of Agave americana , hecogenin

Agave americana has been used as a medicinal plant in their homeland for a long time, but only from the 16th century in Europe. Tabernaemontanus refers in his herbal book written in 1588 to a mention of the plant by Charles de l'Écluse . According to the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega from 1609, the sap of the plant was used by the local Indians to treat warts and cancerous ulcers. The main active ingredients of the plant are saponins . The main sapogenin of Agave americana , hecogenin, was first isolated in 1943. It is also found in Hechtia texensis .

The two only of cultivation known varieties Agave americana var. Expansa and Agave americana var. Oaxacensis be in Mexico for the production of pulque used.

proof

literature

Urs Eggli (ed.): Succulent lexicon. Monocotyledons . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3662-7 , pp. 10-11 .
Thomas Heller: Agaves . Natur und Tier-Verlag GmbH, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-931587-89-4 , p. 58-61 .
Gordon Douglas Rowley : A History of Succulent Plants. Strawberry Press, Mill Valley, California 1997, ISBN 0-912647-16-0 , pp. 53-58.
Lutz Roth, Max Daunderer, Kurt Kormann: Poisonous plants plant poisons. 6th edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86820-009-6 .

Individual evidence

↑ Species Plantarum . 1st edition. Lars Salvius: Stockholm 1753, p. 323; (on-line)
↑ Urs Eggli (Ed.): Succulents Lexicon. Monocotyledons . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3662-7 , pp. 10-11 .
↑ ^a ^b Heinz-Dieter Krausch : Kaiserkron and Päonien rot ... Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-423-34412-8 , p. 40-41 .
^ Rembert Dodoens: Stirpium historiae pemptades sex . 1583, p. 355 ( online ).
^ Gordon Douglas Rowley : A History of Succulent Plants. Strawberry Press, Mill Valley, California 1997, ISBN 0-912647-16-0 , p. 55.
↑ Dorothea Swart: Succulent medicinal plants and their ingredients - Agave americana Linné . In: Deutsche Kakteengesellschaft eV (Hrsg.): Cacti and other succulents . tape 10 , 1987, pp. 260-263 .
↑ Urs Eggli (Ed.): Succulents Lexicon. Monocotyledons . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3662-7 , pp. 11 .

Web links

Commons : Agave americana - collection of images, videos and audio files

Entry in Plants For A Future

[1] Species Plantarum . 1st edition. Lars Salvius: Stockholm 1753, p. 323; (on-line)

[2] Urs Eggli (Ed.): Succulents Lexicon. Monocotyledons . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3662-7 , pp. 10-11 .

[krausch-3] Heinz-Dieter Krausch : Kaiserkron and Päonien rot ... Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-423-34412-8 , p. 40-41 .

[4] Rembert Dodoens: Stirpium historiae pemptades sex . 1583, p. 355 ( online ).

[5] Gordon Douglas Rowley : A History of Succulent Plants. Strawberry Press, Mill Valley, California 1997, ISBN 0-912647-16-0 , p. 55.

[6] Dorothea Swart: Succulent medicinal plants and their ingredients - Agave americana Linné . In: Deutsche Kakteengesellschaft eV (Hrsg.): Cacti and other succulents . tape 10 , 1987, pp. 260-263 .

[7] Urs Eggli (Ed.): Succulents Lexicon. Monocotyledons . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3662-7 , pp. 11 .