Agavaceae are monocots adapted to warm, dry areas. The plants often have a rosette of leaves and produce rhizomes. Some, for example the century plant, grow vegetatively for many years, then flower and die.
Suckers develop from the dying plant and start the growth cycle over again.
Sissal and hemp are grown for fiber and some plants produce a sap from which mescal, tequila and pulque are made. Some botanists feel that the Agavaceae is not a true family, but put the members of this family in the Amaryllidaceous and the Liliaceae. We will treat the Agavaceae as a family and study the members of this family at the same time that we study the Liliaceae. The common name for members of the genus Agave is the century plant or agave. This genus has many species that are used as house plants.