Century Plants Live for Decades and then Die

 By Richard B. Primack

“One moment of serene and confident life is more glorious than a whole campaign of daring. We should be ready for all issues; not daring to die, daring to live." Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

 

Century plants get their name because they grow slowly for decades, perhaps even a century in some cases, and then flower spectacularly and die. As described in a recent article in the Washington Post, a century plant in Luthersville, Georgia, growing near the limits of its northern range, aroused great local interest this year when it sent up a giant 25-foot flowering stalk. 

Photo 1: The century plant in Luthersville with the flowering stalk developing. The photo on the left was taken in April and the photo on the right was taken in late May.

Century plants are often grown in warm, dry climates for their unusual rosettes of elongated grayish green spear-shaped leaves, each one up to six feet long. But a century plant really gets noticed when it reproduces after decades of growth, producing an inflorescence up to 30 feet tall, with clusters of yellow to orange flowers. 

Photo 2: The century plant flowering in early July.

The century plant puts so much of its stored water and nutrient resources into flowering and later fruiting, that it apparently dies in the months following. In fact, a flowering plant often produces small plantlets, or “pups,” on its stem at ground level, which can root and continue the life of the plant. 

 

Here is a link to the article: LINK