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(Courtesy of University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens)

The 80-year-old American agave in University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens has started to bloom.

“The buds are starting to send up the stamens, which are the pollen-bearing parts of the flower,” Matthaei Botanical Gardens marketing and communications manager Joe Mooney said. “We’re not sure yet what the buds will send up next. We’re trying to find that out from some desert-plant botanical experts right now”

Although the American agave’s flowers are not visible yet, Mooney said the plant’s full flowers will show within the next few hours or within a few days.

Blooming will go on for weeks before the plant dies and is cut down. Because the American agave is a monocarpic species, it only blooms once in its lifetime.

The plant will leave behind identical pups that grow off the stalk and form new American agave plants. These pups will be kept at the conservatory.

Interest in the blooming 24-foot-tall plant acquired by U-M in 1934 has caused a huge increase in Matthaei Botanical Gardens visitors, Mooney said.

“Visitor traffic is up more than 50 percent from the same time last year, but we’ll do another report in a week or so and I expect that it will be even more than 50 percent,” Mooney said.

Those patiently waiting for the plant to bloom since May, when the agave showed signs that it would soon flower, have been able to keep tabs on the process by checking the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum Facebook page.

Chelsea Hoedl is an intern reporter for The Ann Arbor News. She can be reached at choedl@mlive.com.