agave, agave

[In Lat. agave; from Gr. ἀγανός ( agauos ) = illustrious.] I. Cla ical Mythology: 1. One of the Nereids. 2. A daughter of Cadmus, afterwards deified. the my the of Pen the us torn in n pieces of her com by his own mother Agave , at the head of her panions in the ceremony, as an intruder upon the feminine rites as well as a scoffer at the god."-Grote: Hist. Greece, pt. i., ch. i. II. Bot . [In Fr. agave ; Sp. & Port. agave .] A genus of plants belonging to the order Amaryllid aceæ, or Amaryllids. The species have large fleshy leaves, with teeth ending in spinous points. From the centre of a circle of these leaves there rises, as the plant approaches maturity, a tall scape of flowers. The idea that the agave flowers but once in a hundred years is, as Dr. Lindley says, a gardener's fable: what really happens is, that the plant taking many years (ten to seventy it is thought) to come to maturity, flowers but once, and then dies. The best known species is the Agave American a , or American Aloe. The hard and spiny leaves of this fine endogen form impenetrable hedges. The fibre is tough enough to make excellent cordage. The expre ed juice may be employed as a substitute for soap. It may also be manufactured into a liquor like cider. The root is diuretic and antisyphilitic. The plant is now cultivated in the south of Europe. The A. Mexican a has similar properties to those of the A. American a. The A. saponaria is a powerful detergent, and its roots are used as a substitute AGAVE. (AMERICAN ALOE.) for soap. (Lindley: Vegetable Kingdom, 1847, pp. 157, 158.) *a-gāyn', *a-gāyn'e, prep. & adv. [AGAIN.] * a-gāyns', prep. [AGAINST.) *a-gāze, r.t. [Eng. gaze.] To strike with amazement.