Agave Americana (Photo : Facebook)
A 50-year-old "Agave Americana" plant has been in the Truman State University for its entire lifetime. Now it is being put out for show, before it dies. The giant plant is already in it flowering stage, which is considered to be the last stage in a plant's life.
It's performance in the greenhouse of the university has already been very popular, according to Washington Times. The young workers at the greenhouse first noticed the plant shooting a stalk, a couple of weeks ago, which confirmed that the huge plant was near it's end time, states News Tribune.
The stalk kept growing over the days and now it is quite huge, that the maintenance team had to remove the panels from the ceiling of the greenhouse to give the stalk an uninterrupted growth.
They were also worried that at such a speedy growth, the stalk might actually smash the ceiling panel of the greenhouse. It is currently 25-feet in height and is branching out flowers at a high speed.
This plant generally grows in the deserts of Mexico and is most popular for its role in the production of Tequila. The built up sugar in the leaves is stored and fermented and used for alcoholic beverages. It boasts of a rather spectacular flowering spectacle. Hence the greenhouse has put it out for display, open to everyone.
As a matter of fact, the plant will not die as a whole. It is sprouting new plants from its base and they will continue to grow as healthy plants. This phenomenon occurs due to pollination caused by moths and bats.
