Agave murpheyi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Agave murpheyi |
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Agave
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murpheyi
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Agave murpheyi is a special type of agave plant. It's a succulent, which means it stores water in its leaves. This plant is found only at a few old sites where the ancient Hohokam Indians used to live. These sites are in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico.
Scientists believe the Hohokam people grew Agave murpheyi on purpose. They used it for food and to make strong fibers. This plant is also known as Hohokam agave or Murphey agave. Even after more than 500 years, these plants still grow at some of the old Hohokam sites!
What it Looks Like
This agave grows a bunch of leaves in a circle, like a rosette. These leaves can be up to 80 centimeters (about 31 inches) long and 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) wide. They are usually green or blue-green. When the plant gets ready to flower, the leaves might turn a bit red.
The edges of the leaves have small, straight teeth. Each leaf also has a sharp spine at its tip, up to 2 centimeters (about 0.8 inches) long. The plant sends up a tall flower stalk, which can be 3 to 4 meters (10 to 13 feet) high! Many greenish flowers with purple or brown tips grow along this stalk.
Agave murpheyi rarely makes seeds. Instead, it mostly grows new plants from small plantlets called "bulbils."
How it Was Used
The Hohokam people grew Agave murpheyi for two main reasons: food and fiber.
For food, they would harvest the base of the plant, called the rosette. They did this just before the plant sent up its tall flower stalk. At this time, the rosette had the most sugar in it. Each rosette weighed about 9 pounds (4 kilograms).
The Hohokam cooked these rosettes in special pits. They filled the pits with hot stones, hot coals, and dirt. The agave would cook for two or three days! After cooking, the baked agave tasted a bit like a sweet potato. It was very nutritious, providing lots of calories and protein.
Ancient Agave Farms
For thousands of years, Native Americans gathered wild agave plants for food. But in the 1980s, archaeologists made an amazing discovery. They found huge areas where the Hohokam people had actually farmed Agave murpheyi. These farms were near the cities of Tucson and Marana in Arizona.
Scientists found almost 20,000 acres (about 78 square kilometers) of old agave fields! This shows that agave was a very important food source for the Hohokam, who had tens of thousands of people. Many other fields might still be hidden or have been destroyed over time.
The Hohokam grew agave in rocky areas above the Santa Cruz River. This was different from where they grew crops that needed more water. They planted agave in special rockpiles. These piles were about 5 feet (1.5 meters) across and 2 feet (0.6 meters) high. The rocks helped keep moisture in the soil and protected the plants from small animals.
The Hohokam also built small dams and terraces to guide rainwater to their agave plants. About one-tenth of their agave plants were harvested each year. The fields still have the remains of large pits where they cooked the agave.
The Hohokam started growing agave in rockpiles around 600 AD. Large-scale farming of agave was common during the main period of Hohokam culture, from 1150 to 1450 AD.
In one area near Marana, about 1,200 acres (485 hectares) were used for agave farming. Experts believe this amount of agave could have provided 20% of the daily calories for 775 people. It also met the daily protein needs for 550 people. Agave was a very reliable crop because it was tough and didn't need much water, which was important in the dry desert.
The Hohokam likely bred Agave murpheyi over many generations to make it better for eating. It had several advantages over other agave types. Its leaf juice was less harsh, and it was ready to eat in late winter or early spring. This was a time when other farm crops were not growing.
Images for kids
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Agave murpheyi plant
