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Henequen is an agave Agave fourcroydes (Lem. 1864) whose leaves produce a fiber (also called "henequen") suitable for rope and twine, but not of as high a quality as sisal. It is the major plantation fiber agave of eastern Mexico, being grown extensively in Yucatán, Veracruz, and southern Tamaulipas.
The plant appears as a rosette of sword-shaped leaves 1.2 to 1.8 meters long, growing out of a thick stem that may reach 1.7 meters (5 ft). The leaves have regularly-spaced teeth 3-6 mm long, and a terminal spine 2-3 cm long.
Like the sisal, A. fourcroydes is a sterile hybrid; the ovaries never produce seeds. The plant does produce bulbils that may be planted, but commercial growers prefer to use the frequent suckers, which develop more quickly.
Reference
- Howard Scott Gentry, Agaves of Continental North America (University of Arizona Press, 1982) pp. 573-576
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