Agave virginica

Hannon othonna@gmail.com
Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:33:56 PDT
Lee,

It may be accurate enough to refer to these plants simply as
perennials. It does seem to be largely a monocot syndrome. Bananas,
bromeliads and <some> agaves provide dramatic examples of individual
plants that keep going after some shoots flower and die. Think of
orchids or cannas, they also <often> generate regular sympodial shoots
that are *terminated by an inflorescence* in every sense of the word.
Here it may not be so obvious as it can take a number of years before
these shoots and their leaves wither away.

Tony, somehow I missed your original reply, but I agree. I never
thought *multiannual* was a satisfactory solution. It has not caught
on in any event, at least in American botanical literature. As you
know there is much coming and going of temporal and regional
peculiarities in botany, as in other professions.

Dylan


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