This is particularly significant because it has allowed botanists to finally identify the Agave vivipara species of the plant, which was growing at up to four inches (10cm) per day over the summer ...

Staff were not sure of the species, but believed it was an Agave vivipara. They said the long-awaited flowers, which smell like broccoli, were "not as pretty as people might expect".

Staff collected seedlings, saying they wanted to "share the agave love". The agave vivipara flower "spike" appeared in June 2019 and grew so tall it almost reached the glasshouse roof.

Variegated Caribbean agave (A. angustifolia aka A. vivipara ‘Marginata’) can be used individually as accents, massed as tall groundcovers and incorporated into mixed shrubbery borders.