The spring flowers are all but gone and the monsoon rains have yet to begin at Big Bend, but there are still a number of interesting plant happenings in the park. Agaves are succulents, meaning they have thick, fleshy leaves, and are members of the plant group Monocotyledoneae, which includes grasses, lilies, and yuccas. The Monocots tend to have flower parts numbering three or six and parallel rather than net-like veins in their leaves.
Agaves flower only once in their lifetime, after which they senesce and die.
Besides the Havard agave, two other agaves occur in Big Bend National Park. June, park staff counted 405 Havard agave plants flowering in Green Gulch, the Basin, and Oak Springs drainage. The agave count in these areas has been held annually since 1986. The count of flowering agaves has varied dramatically in the past 16 years, from a low of 55 in 2000, to the peak of 730 in 1996. The 16-year average is 296 flowering plants per year.