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Agave cantala

Authority Roxb. Family Liliopsida:Liliidae:Asparagales:Agavaceae Synonyms Common names Bombay aloe, cantala, Cebu maguey, Manila maguey Editor Ecocrop code 2894

Notes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tall, slender, loose-leaved, surculose, 2-2.5 m tall, stem 30-60 cm, and leaves 1.5-2.0 m long. Towards the end of its life the plant puts up a flowering pole about 6 m tall. USES Grown for fibre used as binder, baler twine, net-sacking, hammocks, mats and also used as a hedge plante and for erosion control. The fibre is finer but less strong than that of sisal and henequen. GROWING PERIOD Perennial. It has a lifespan of more than 15-30 years. COMMON NAMES Cantala fibre, Kantala, Cantula fibre, Maguey. FURTHER INF Cantala fibre is probably native of Mexico. It is commonly grown in southeastern Asia from the Philippines to India. The leaves contain about 4% fibre and yields of clean fibre vary between 1.1-3.0 t/ha.
Sources
SOURCES (Agave cantala Roxb.) Kirby R 1963 pp 259-264 [DRA, TEXT, FER, RAIN, TEMP, USE] Gentry H 1982 pp 568-571 [USE] Purseglove J 1972 pp 10-11 [USE, RAIN]