In article <4803b3$amr at nntp3.u.washington.edu>,
mkkuhner at phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner) wrote:
> The organism that really puzzles me in this context is the century plant
> (which I was lucky enough to see flowering once in Berkeley,
> California). It lives longer than I'm likely to, and flowers *once* at
> the end of its lifespan. As far as I know it doesn't propagate
> vegetatively, either. What conditions make this a reasonable life
> history?
Perhaps the reason you are puzzled is that century plants really
don't live that long. I'm not a botanist, but I think these are
any of several members of genus Agave that bloom after about
10 or 20 years, and in some species then die.
--
Doug Eernisse <DEernisse at fullerton.edu>
Dept. Biological Science MH282
California State University
Fullerton, CA 92634
