Editing Sisal (section)

==Taxonomy==
The [[native plant|native]] origin of ''Agave sisalana'' is uncertain. Traditionally, it was deemed to be a native of the [[Yucatán Peninsula]], but no records exist of botanical collections from there. They were originally shipped from the Spanish colonial port of [[Sisal, Yucatán|Sisal]] in [[Yucatán (state)|Yucatán]] (thus the name). The Yucatán [[plantation]]s now cultivate [[Agave fourcroydes|henequen (''Agave fourcroydes'')]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

[[Howard Scott Gentry|H. S. Gentry]] hypothesized a [[Chiapas]] origin, on the strength of traditional local usage. Evidence of an indigenous [[cottage industry]] there suggests it as the original habitat location, possibly as a cross of ''[[Agave angustifolia]]'' and ''[[Agave kewensis]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author=H.S. Gentry|author-link=Howard Scott Gentry|title=Agaves of Continental North America|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=1982|pages=628–631}}</ref> The species is now naturalized in other parts of Mexico, as well as in Spain, the [[Canary Islands]], [[Cape Verde]], [[Madagascar]], [[Réunion]], [[Seychelles]], many parts of Africa, China, India, [[Pakistan]], [[Nepal]], [[Burma]], [[Cambodia]], [[Thailand]], the [[Solomon Islands]], [[Queensland]], [[Fiji]], [[Hawaii]], [[Florida]], Central America, [[Ecuador]], and the [[West Indies]].<ref>[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=294215 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, ''Agave sisalana'']</ref>

===Plant description===
Sisal plants consist of a [[Rosette (botany)|rosette]] of sword-shaped leaves about {{convert|1.5|to|2|m|ftin|abbr=on}} tall. Young leaves may have a few minute teeth along their margins, but lose them as they mature.<ref>Perrine, Henry.  Tropical Plants - 25th Congres, 2d session [Rep. no. 564] Ho. of Reps. Dr. Henry Perrine 8, 9, 16, 47, 60, 86. 1838.</ref>

The sisal plant has a 7- to 10-year lifespan and typically produces 200–250 commercially usable leaves.  Each leaf contains around 1000 fibers.  The fibers account for only about 4% of the plant by weight. Sisal is considered a plant of the tropics and subtropics, since production benefits from temperatures above {{convert|25|C}} and sunshine.<ref name=wigglesworth/>

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Agave sisalana W IMG 2378.jpg|Inflorescence in [[Goa]], [[India]]
File:Agave sisalana W2 IMG 2377.jpg|Flowers in Goa
</gallery>