The carbohydrates of Agave vera Cruz Mill.

In a preliminary communication from this Laboratory,
Srinivasan, Bhalerao & Subramanian (1952)
reported the presence of polyfructosans in the stem
of Agave vera cruz (hereinafter referred to as the
agave; for description of this species, see Firminger,
1905; Duthie, 1915; Bailey, 1919). This material
has since been shown by chromatographic methods
to contain a number of other water-soluble carbohydrates
(Bhatia, Satyanarayana & Srinivasan,
1953). The carbohydrate make-up in the stem of the
agave appears, in general, to be similar to that
reported by Dedonder (1950) and by Bacon &
Edelman (1951) in Jerusalem artichoke. However,
neither of the two polyfructosans isolated from the
agave seems to be identical with inulin.