[5][6]) The now-defunct Calibanus was formerly included in the Agavaceae (now Agavoideae) but was separated from them, for it is polycarpic and dioecious.

Its name refers to the monster Caliban, an antagonist in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

The caudex can grow to 1m in diameter, with clumps of green-blue, coarse, grasslike, wiry leaves 50 cm long rising from the center and arching down with age.

Clusters of tiny, creamy-white flowers, sometimes tinged with pink or purple, are rigid, about 10–20 cm long.

Female plants bear globose, ovoid, 3-angled berries with ellipsoid seeds.