Don’t let names of these plants fool you: Peace lily and century plant
The century plant seems prone to exaggeration. First of all: the name. The American century plant — the common name of the Agave americana, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden website — is somewhat of a misnomer.
It is “so called because it supposedly blooms once every 100 years, then dies. This is not exactly true. It doesn’t quite take 100 years; it’s more like 10-20 years to see a bloom,” according to an email from the Travis County Master Gardeners Association.
In addition, the blooms can become quite noticeably tall, looking perhaps like an extralong asparagus spear or something out of a Dr. Seuss book.
When Jeff Daniel and Michael Koran moved into their Central Austin home about one year ago, a row of century plants already was part of the landscape in the front yard by the street.
This spring, Daniel and Koran noticed one of the century plants started to bloom.
According to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center plant database at wildflower.org, “The bloom spike height ranges from 12-25+. Bloom time trigger mechanism is not well understood, but this agave generally blooms at about 10 years of age.”
At Daniel and Koran’s yard, by midsummer the plant’s bloom had grown upward of an estimated 15 feet or more.
“We just saw this huge stalk come up,” Daniel said. “It grew really fast.” They did some Googling and found out it was a century plant, and a yard service also confirmed that, he said
According to the master gardener email, the plant “will die after blooming, but not before leaving … several pups in its place.”
Another email stated: “The plant expends all of its energy in the decadeslong pursuit of sending out that one spectacular bloom for the purpose of reproduction. After that is done, the plant will inevitably die. However … it will leave several offshoots in its place. Only the plant that bloomed will die.”
The Missouri Botanical Garden says: “Common name of century plant suggests the plant will live 100 years before flowering. In reality, outdoor plants typically bloom between the 10th and 25th years. Indoor plants rarely flower. When an outdoor plant blooms, it sends up a single, stout, erect flowering stalk from the center of the basal rosette of leaves to 15-30feet tall or more. The flowering stalk resembles a narrow telephone pole with horizontal branching near the top. Greenish-yellow flowers (each to 3-4-inches long) bloom in panicles at the branch ends. Suckers/ offsets root at the base of each rosette over time, often forming a colony of new plants. Once a plant flowers and dies, the offsets around the base of the plant continue to grow.”
In addition, the Wildflower Center plant database offers this information: “Very large, handsome evergreen lily-like blue-green foliage. Xeric qualities and a stunning bloom stalk with maturity at 10 years or more. Makes a great landscape focal point or accent and can be used in pots away from foot traffic. Best in full sun, but can take light shade.”
A plant that won’t give your animals peace
The day after a beautiful gift basket full of plants arrived at our house, I noticed the family cat taking about a 10-hour nap on the bed. Of course, the cat always takes plenty of snoozes at our house, but usually she rests a few hours on the couch, then stretches and moves to the rug for some more shuteye, and so on.
But this day, she barely moved. Then we noticed that a few little nibbles had been taken out of some leaves from one of the plants in the gift basket. Uh-oh.
I emailed a photo for identification to the Travis County Master Gardeners Association. The response identified the plant as a spathiphyllum, or peace lily, which the email said is indeed “considered poisonous and should be kept away from pets and children.”
The email cited information about this plant that also can be found on houseplant411.com. It says: “Peace Lily plants are beautiful indoor houseplants with large, glossy, oval, dark green leaves and impressive white ‘spathes’ (flowers) that last for weeks. Spathes may be green which reminds us that they are really modified leaves. A Peace Lily or Spathiphyllum originated in tropical forests around the world where it grew close to the forest floor in the shade of the larger plants. This helps explain why Peace Lily plants are one of very few indoor plants that can bloom even in medium to low light. NASA lists the Peace Lily as one of the best plants to clean the air of harmful toxins such as benzene, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide.”
For further information, it recommended reading the book “Don’t Feed Me to Your Cat! A Guide to Poisonous Houseplants.”
Also, a webpage of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals states that the peace lily is toxic to dogs and cats. It lists symptoms of “oral irritation, intense burning and irritation of mouth, tongue and lips, excessive drooling, vomiting, difficulty swallowing.”
That webpage also suggests, “If you suspect your pet may have ingested a potentially toxic substance, call the APCC (Animal Poison Control Center) at 888426-4435 or contact your local veterinarian as soon as possible.”
This list of symptoms differs from the general sleepiness of my cat — perhaps she was just extra tired that day — so we are lucky that our cat quickly recovered and has been doing fine since then. However, I have placed the plant far away from her reach.