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. Some have toothed edges to their long, pointed leaves and others are armed with one or more spines on the leaves.
Some agaves are excellent landscape plants and some become very large in container culture.
The genus Beaucarnea is the ponytail plant or ponytail palm . These plants have long, thin strap-like leaves arising from a stem that sits atop a very large, bulbous expanded base. Cordyline terminalis is the Hawaiian ti plant . It has long cane-like stems with attractive foliage in a rosette at the top. The leaves are usually variegate with streaks or spots of red pigment.