Plant Puberty

A green agave shoots out its flower stalk.

Among animals generally, elaborate courting, rutting and mating are common, but not ceremonies on the occasion of puberty. The plant world is gorgeous for its sexual, floral displays, but not so much for a plant's first time. Only humans make a big deal out of coming of age.

Except the agave; on both counts: sex and puberty.

Like most life forms, the sex life of an agave is elaborate and beautiful. This is, of course, its flowers. They are a huge display on the end of a tall shoot. They are kind of like a billboard, so we can call such floral displays "billboard flowers."

By contrast, many cactuses just grow a big flower on the side of their head; no stalk. We call such flowering cactuses "Frida Kahloes" (not to confuse the term with aloes or kalanchoes, which are billboard flowers).

But unlike any other life form, except homo sapiens, the first time in the life of an agave is a unique celebration; even more so than for humans for the agaves that do it only once.

This is about two or three days worth.

No, not coming of age. That necessarily happens only once. Doing "it." Sex. Flower.

Many agaves live a good many years (not a century, although its life cycle is the occasion for the century plant's name), then grow a fantastic billboard, erupt in flowers, attract bats from as far away as Mexico, then expire.

When you literally put your life into "it", then by comparison, a bar mitzvah or tribal scarring is a rather dull affair.

The reason I mention all this is because it is spring, when a young man's fancy turns to …, as it does for some species of agave that have matured to the point of puberty. They erupt with a sudden and huge stalk. It's a huge affair. They grow amazingly fast.

Every day I spend time in our San Simeon Acre of the Sonoran Desert. Only yesterday I noticed not one, not two, but three green agaves throwing up shoots. These are not small shoots. Within days they equal the height of the underlying plant. Within weeks they equal its mass. It is their rite of puberty. It is the sugar in their core (which we ferment to make tequila).

In a few weeks the tops of the stalks will burst with sticky sweet flowers. By late summer, the agave will be spent, shriveled from exhaustion, near death. Now that's impressive sex!