A woman looks up at a 10-meter-high agave, which flowered for the first time in 20 years.
Agave, a plant which is also known by the name “century plant” for its nature of flowering only once in decades, has blossomed in Nishi, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, for the first time in 20 years.
The agave, planted by Denjiro Okada, 65, in his field some 40 years ago, first flowered in around 1991. Its stem started to grow up again in mid-April this year to reach nearly 10 meters high by late June, and yellow flowers blossomed in mid-July. Okada said he did not expect to live to see the plant flower again, and asked people to feel free to come and enjoy the flowers.
The plant is native to Mexico, and fructose stored in its core is used as the ingredient for producing distilled liquor tequila. It grows aloe-like spiky leaves that can reach over two meters in height, and sprouts a stalk from the center of the leaf rosette that can grow several meters more.
(Aug. 5, 2013)