Changes

*Robust, perennial herb up to 9 m tall when flowering, producing suckers; stem short and thick, up to 20 cm in diameter, with a dense rosette of leaves at apex. *Leaves arranged spirally, succulent, sessile, lanceolate, 1–2 m × 15–25 cm, base fleshy, triangular in cross section, apex with sharp, dark brown spine up to 5 cm long, margin wavy to toothed with teeth up to 10 mm long, pale blue-grey to green, sometimes variegated. *Inflorescence a very large, terminal, rather open panicle; peduncle 2–8 m long. *Flowers bisexual, regular; perianth tubular, 8–20 mm long, 6-lobed, pale yellow; stamens 6, attached above the middle of the perianth tube, 6–9 cm long; ovary inferior, 3-celled, style 1, longer than the stamens, stigma 3-lobed. *Fruit an oblong capsule 4–5 cm long, shortly beaked, many-seeded. *Seeds flat, disk-shaped, 7–8 mm × 5–6 mm, curved, shiny black. *Seedling with epigeal germination.