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Species
Agave sisalana Perrine
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
The leaves are used as a source of fiber.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200028033 |
Neotype for Agave sisalana Perrine
Catalog Number: US 2578469A
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: ; Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): H. S. Gentry
Year Collected: 1957
Locality: Ocosocautla, Chiapas, Mexico, North America
Microhabitat: Cult. as a fence row. Cultivated from about Tuxtla Gutierrex to Cintalapa for fiber - probably in its original area.
- Neotype: Perrine, H. 1838. Congr. Doc. 564: 8.; Gentry, H. S. 1982. Agaves Continental N. Amer. 628.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=10078350 |
Neotype for Agave sisalana Perrine
Catalog Number: US 2578468A
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: ; Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): H. S. Gentry
Year Collected: 1957
Locality: Ocosocautla, Chiapas, Mexico, North America
Microhabitat: Cult. as a fence row. Cultivated from about Tuxtla Gutierrex to Cintalapa for fiber - probably in its original area.
- Neotype: Perrine, H. 1838. Congr. Doc. 564: 8.; Gentry, H. S. 1982. Agaves Continental N. Amer. 628.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=10078349 |
Comments: Warm Temperate Thorn to Dry through Tropical Thorn to Moist Forest Life Zones. Grows in frost-free areas with moderate atmospheric humidity; thrives in areas with high temperature where annual rainfall is between 1000 and 1250 mm.
Sandy places along roadsides and in hammocks; 0m.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200028033 |
Widely cultivated. S China [native to Mexico].
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200028033 |
Flowering winter--early spring.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200028033 |
Uses: Vegetable/potherb, Beverage (alcoholic), Pharmaceutical, Folk medicine, FIBER, Textile/cordage, Useful poisons
Comments: Leaves provide sisal hemp, a fiber of great commercial value, used for binder twine, ropes, and marine cordage. May also be substituted for Manila fiber or jute. Woven into rugs, mats, and fabrics for coffee scaks, wagon covers. Also used for mops, paper board and kraft paper. Medicinally, source of cortisone and could be a source of steroids and diosgenin (contraceptive). Folk medicines include remedy for dysentery, jaundice, leprosy, sores, sprains, and syphilis. Sap exuding from excised flower stalks is sweet and is used to make a beer (pulque) and a kind of brandy (mexical, mescal, or mezcal). Central buds may be baked with corn oil and salt then eaten as a side dish. Sisal waste is molluscicidal and may have a remarkable effect on fungal growth and inhibition of aflatoxins. Toxicity includes raw sap which is highly irritating to the eyes and skin. Mattresses may cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. This low input semidesert species provides drugs, fiber, leaf-protein, waxes, alcohol, and organic mulch.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Agave+sisalana |
United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Agave+sisalana |