Purdue Botany and Plant Pathology

🌵 Alice’s vertical growth is slowing down and she’s hovering around 42 feet tall.

New flowers are opening along the towering stalk, and today's photos show both the intricate flowers and a dramatic view from the bottom looking up. Alice continues to put on quite a show!

🌱✨ She finally has a name! ✨🌱

Meet Alice, our giant blooming agave.

Named after retired professor Mary Alice Webb, Alice is quickly becoming a Purdue celebrity as her spectacular bloom towers above the greenhouse. At over 42 feet tall, she's giving visitors plenty to talk about—and photograph!

Have you visited Alice yet? 💚📸

Congratulations to Darcy Telenko on the publication of Applied Research in Field Crop Pathology for Indiana, 2020! 🌽📘 This Purdue University Press volume summarizes field crop disease research conducted through Purdue’s Field Crop Pathology Program and provides research-based recommendations to support effective disease management in Indiana agriculture.

🔬🌱 Science Update on Our Giant Agave!

As our greenhouse agave continues its spectacular bloom, we've learned something new about this remarkable plant. After additional research and comparisons with other agave specimens, we've determined that our plant is Agave americana (commonly known as the century plant), rather than Agave tequilana as previously identified.

The plant's leaf characteristics, prominent spines, and towering bloom stalk—now over 42 feet tall—all point to Agave americana. The updated identification helps ensure we're sharing the most accurate information about this once-in-a-lifetime flowering event.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates about our greenhouse giant! 👀🌱 Purdue Agriculture

🌱🏆 Congratulations to Dr. Darcy Telenko, Associate Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist, on receiving the 2026 Mid-Career Award from the North Central Division of the American Phytopathological Society (APS)!
This prestigious honor recognizes Dr. Telenko’s outstanding contributions to plant pathology through impactful research, extension, and service. Her work helps growers and agricultural stakeholders make informed disease management decisions, strengthening crop production systems across Indiana and the North Central region.
Please join us in celebrating this well-deserved recognition! 👏🎉
L to R: Dr. George Sundin (Distinguished Service Award), Darcy Telenko (Mid-Career Award) and Horacio Lopez-Nicora (Early Career Award)

July 7 Agave Update!
📏🌱 Current height: 12.83 m (42.09 ft)
📈✨ Growth rate: Over 6 ft in the last two weeks!
Follow the bloom: https://ag.purdue.edu/department/btny/agave-death-bloom-2026.html

🌱 For more than 150 years, Purdue Agriculture has started with a simple question: What do people need?
A new Purdue story explores how listening to farmers, communities, and industry partners has shaped the College of Agriculture’s work—from early crop trials and seed certification programs to Extension education and global agricultural innovation. The story highlights Purdue’s enduring land-grant mission: listening first, then delivering science-based solutions that improve lives.
As Purdue Agriculture celebrates more than 150 years of impact, this commitment to serving communities through research, education, and outreach remains as important as ever.
📖 Read the story: Listening Still: Purdue Agriculture’s Enduring Method

Purdue Stories Meet the Boilermakers inspiring us with their small steps and giant leaps. Explore the go-to destination for Purdue storytelling.

🎉 Congratulations to Juan Diego Rojas-Gutierrez and Wily Sic-Hernandez, recipients of the 2026 Chunhua Zhang Graduate Student Travel Award!
This award recognizes outstanding graduate students who exemplify excellence in research and scientific communication while honoring the legacy of Dr. Chunhua Zhang, a beloved researcher, mentor, and educator.
Join us in celebrating their achievements and Dr. Zhang’s lasting impact on our community. 🌱

🌵 Agave Update: The Agave americana has officially reached 10.86 m (36.6 ft) tall! Towering above the greenhouse, this extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime "death bloom" continues to amaze visitors and showcase the incredible growth potential of agaves. 💛🖤

Happy Pollinator Week!

Long before humans began cultivating crops, plants and pollinators were already working together, building one of nature’s most powerful and essential partnerships: pollination.

For millions of years, pollen has told the story of how plants reproduce, evolve and sustain ecosystems. Today, plant-pollinator relationships still power global biodiversity, helping produce much of the food we eat and keeping our environment thriving.

Researchers in the Department of Entomology and Purdue Botany and Plant Pathology continue to study how these ancient partnerships shape modern agriculture and the environment around us.

Learn more about how pollination influences our food systems and ecosystems: https://ag.purdue.edu/news/2025/07/pollen-pollination-how-ancient-partnerships-shape-todays-world.html