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Mauritius hemp

Furcraea foetida

Also called Giant cabuya, Green aloe, Furcraea

In Singapore: Giant False Agave (Grown in Singapore)

Mauritius hemp
Photo: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0

Furcraea foetida is a large, stemless or short-trunked succulent with sword-shaped leaves, grown widely in warm climates for its fibre and as an ornamental. It is monocarpic: the mother plant flowers once, dies back, and is replaced by pups around its base.

Family
Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water deeply but infrequently, letting the soil dry out fully between waterings.
Soil
Well-drained sandy or gritty mix.
Temperature
18–35 °C; protect below 5 °C.
How easy
Easy
Native range
Costa Rica to N. South America and S. Caribbean
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Furcraea foetida (giant gabuya, green-aloe or Mauritius-hemp) is a species of flowering plant native to the Caribbean and northern South America. It is widely cultivated and reportedly naturalized in many places (India, parts of Africa, Portugal, Australia, Thailand, Florida, New Zealand, and many oceanic islands).

Other Furcraea plants

Furcraea andina · Furcraea cabuya · Furcraea niquivilensis

[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Furcraea foetida by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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