In all the years I've lived in Texas, I have seen several dead and dried century plant stalks, but have never managed to see one blooming. We must have visited during a good year for them because there were many of them with tall stalks of big clusters of bright yellow flowers. I took several photos, but none really did them justice.

I have done a few searches, but even just in Texas, there appear to be more than one species of Agave referred to as "century plant" and several that produce flowers that look like this. Possibly this is Agave parryi, although it may also be Agave americana. I didn't get any photos of the whole plant as I was concentrating on the flowers.

http://www.desertusa.com/feb97/du_pcentury.html (Desert USA's entry on Agave parryi)

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/nativeshrubs/agaveamer.htm (Texas Native Plants database entry on Agave americana)