It's an Agave, but it is a little hard to tell which kind. It shares characteristics with A. americana, the common Century Plant, and A. weberi, the Blue Agave of tequila making. It's possible that it is a hybrid, since Agaves cross promiscuously outside of their native habitat.

I think that these plants could be native and growing in their natural habitat, Tug. They are quite common in the coastal regions of north Africa. In these pictures they have been cleared fom the fields behind the plant but are still growing at the roadside.

These were all growing randomly, dotted along the roadsides and in among all the olive groves. Hubby reckoned the field behind this particular plant had had another crop growing there.

Thanks for that...I did think 'Agave' but didn't look any further.

Incidentally, hubby is still adjusting to temperatures of 19-20 degrees here after being in 40-44 degrees last week. Shame!

19 - 20!!!! Would that it is so hot, izzy. We are back in the 10 - 15 zone :-(((

Lol...Just stepped outside, Bulba, and I doubt it's above 16! There is a prospect of warmer as the day progresses, I hope.

We were just talking about a long weekend away. My husband thought Scotland was a non-starter as it would be so cold! LOL. I don't think it's much better down here! Maybe need an aeroplane? LOL.

I was in a village in Cyprus last year when two of these agates had flowered. They were a tourist attraction because it seems these particular ones had only flowered once in two generations and many of the locals had never seen them. I was told the parent dies after this enormous effort, which seems a shame, but there were plenty younger offshoots around it to go on to flower who knows when.

This morning we left Moray in 12 degrees. At Penrith it was 23 degrees and now, near Boroughbridge at 5pm, it is 17 degrees!

You're on a trip out then! Nothing like the good British climate to keep you guessing! LOL. Enjoy!...wherever you are. The week looks promising...:-))

Ojibway...My husband said these plants were everywhere but the locals didn't seem to know very much about them! LOL.

I googled 'Agaves in Tunisia' and there is quite a lot of info.

Thank you again....

Izzy, come to Pembrokeshire - its been lovely and hot today.

Sorry, Bulba, but all Agaves are natives of the New World. Tunisia probably has a few native Aloes and Euphorbias, but no native Agaves or cacti.

Tug, when I googled it, there were lots of examples of Agave americana and the extraction of fibres from same...in Tunisia, especially Hammamet where my husband was based on business.Now I am confused!

Steragram, funnily enough, the Pembrokeshire coast was one of the places we looked at today as I don't know it at all! Still undecided...but only because we cannot find a convenient date for both of us!

Well, you have to remember that the forms of Agave cultivated by the Aztecs--including A. americana and A. weberi--were brought to Eurasia very soon after the "discovery" of the Americas, possibly 500 years ago. From Spain, they quickly were cultivated, or became weeds, all around the Mediterranean-- wherever they didn't freeze to death. So a lot of the locals probably think that they are natives.

Izzy, let me know if you decide to come