Agave americana, a hardy species native to Mexico, produces a towering inflorescence at the final stage of its life. The plant detail shows a pre-blooming phase, with tightly closed flower buds beginning to swell at the tips. Once open, the tubular flowers attract pollinators such as bats, moths, and bees. This species may live for 10 to 30 years before sending up its great flowering stalk. The act of flowering consumes nearly all the plant’s resources, after which the main plant dies, making it a monocarpic species—one that flowers once in its lifetime and then perishes.