Agavaceae : Furcraea foetida : an invading alien in South Africa

Abstract

The genus Agave L. has long been recognized as invasive in southern Africa, and until recently was thought to be the only one of eight genera in the Agavaceae (Verhoek 1998) to have become regionally naturalized (Smith & Mössmer 1996; Smith 2003). In recent years, colonies of large plants bearing a loose resemblance to agaves in general vegetative habit (Figure 15) have been noted as widely naturalized in Kwa- Zulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Mpumalanga (Figure 16); these have been determined as Furcaea foetida (L.) Haw. (syn. F. gigantea Vent.) of the tribe Agaveae (Agavaceae). A plate of this Meso- and South American species is reproduced in Verhoek (2002). F. foetida bears some resemblance to those species of Agave locally grown, particularly in domestic and amenity horticulture; it also has rigid, succulent leaves, rather than leathery, fl accid ones, and in this regard resembles young specimens of Agave americana L., but the leaves are verdant green and not glaucous. The main morphological differences between Agave and Furcraea are presented in Table 1.