Agavaceae, agave family, family Agavaceae, sisal family - chiefly tropical and xerophytic plants: includes Dracenaceae (Dracaenaceae); comprises plants that in some classifications are divided between the Amaryllidaceae and the Liliaceae

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 the source of the colorless Mexican liquor mescal

Agave tequilana - Mexican plant used especially for making tequila

dracaena - often cultivated for the 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

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

desert plant, xerophile, xerophilous plant, xerophyte, xerophytic plant - plant adapted for life with a limited supply of water; compare hydrophyte and mesophyte