American aloe

/əˌmɛrəkən ˌæloʊ/

Other forms: American aloes

Definitions of American aloe

1. noun

   any of several tropical American plants with fibrous, sword-shaped leaves that grow outward from the ground and flowers that grow on tall stalks
   synonyms: agave, century plant

   types:

   Agave americana, American agave

   widely cultivated American monocarpic plant with greenish-white flowers on a tall stalk; blooms only after ten to twenty years and then dies

   Agave sisalana, sisal

   Mexican or West Indian plant with large fleshy leaves yielding a stiff fiber used in e.g. rope

   Agave cantala, cantala, maguey

   Philippine plant yielding a hard fibre used in making coarse twine

   Agave atrovirens, maguey

   Mexican plant used especially for making pulque which is the source of the colorless Mexican liquor, mescal

   Agave tequilana

   Mexican plant used especially for making tequila

   dracaena

   an agave that is often cultivated for its decorative foliage

   Nolina microcarpa, bear grass

   stemless plant with tufts of grasslike leaves and erect panicle of minute creamy white flowers; southwestern United States and Mexico

   bowstring hemp, sansevieria

   grown as a houseplant for its mottled fleshy sword-shaped leaves or as a source of fiber

   Dracaena draco, dragon tree

   tall tree of the Canary Islands; source of dragon's blood

   African bowstring hemp, African hemp, Sansevieria guineensis

   bowstring hemp of South Africa

   Ceylon bowstring hemp, Sansevieria zeylanica

   plant having thick fibrous leaves transversely banded in light and dark green

   Sansevieria trifasciata, mother-in-law's tongue, snake plant

   stemless plant having narrow rigid leaves often cultivated as a houseplant

   type of:

   desert plant, xerophile, xerophilous plant, xerophyte, xerophytic plant

   plant adapted for life with a limited supply of water; compare hydrophyte and mesophyte