TOKYO: (Bernama-Kyodo) Agave vilmoriniana, a succulent said to flower only once during its decades-long lifespan, has bloomed with vivid yellow flowers at a garden in western Japan, Kyodo News Agency reported.
Expecting the flowers to remain at their peak for about a week, a spokesperson for Monet's Garden Marmottan in Kitagawa, Kochi Prefecture, urged visitors to "come and see its final moment of glory."
The garden said staff found a flower stalk about 30 centimetres tall in early April and that it rapidly grew to more than four metres within a month.
Akiko Abe, 45, a gardener who manages the site, said, "This is the first time I've seen it bloom," and added that she felt the plant was using decades of stored strength to leave seeds.
The garden acquired the Mexico-native plant from a collector in Osaka in 2020 to mark its 20th anniversary. The garden was inspired by that of French painter Claude Monet. - Bernama-Kyodo
