154 



A A. Plantlets forming the first year a distinct caudex; plants persisting from year to year 

 and having a more or less distinct stem ; leaves persisting for several, often many, 

 years, usually thick, fleshy, spiny-edged, the spines pointed; inflorescence either a 

 dense cylindrical spike with flowers normally in twos or a large panicle with can- 

 delabra-like branches; flowering usually after a long interval of growth, some- 

 times hut once, in other species occasionally, in one annually ; perianth tube 

 straight; stamens folded in bud. 



Agave (for the most part). 

 The genera as here received may be noted as follows: 



Fiu. 7. 



-Flowers of Polianthes tuberom, natural 

 size. 



1753. 



Flo. 8. — Flowers of Polianthes sj)., 

 natural size. 



Figures 7 to 9. 



Polianthes L. Sp. PI. 1 : H16 

 Type, P, tuber osa L. 



/'. tubcrosa has been cultivated for four hundred years, and the real home of the 



species is unknown. It lias been assigned both 

 to Asia and America. Linnaeus says, in Species 

 Plantarum, " Habitat in India.'' Its allies are 

 mostly Mexican, although it does not seem to 

 have had its origin in any of the wild species 

 known to me. It has also been reported from 

 the higher Andes of South America. To l'oli- 

 anthes I would refer 



Bravoa Llav. & Lex. (for most part) Nov. 



Veg. Desc. fasc. 1 : 6. 1824. 



Figure 10. 



Typoof the genus, Bravoa 



geminijlora Lex. in Llav. &. 



Lex., 1. c. 



Jlravoa geminiflo ra i s < 1 1 1 i te 

 unlike 1*. tuberosa in its 

 short, red, cylindrical peri- 

 antli tube, and were these 

 species the only representa- 

 tives of these genera the 

 two might be kept distinct. 

 Taking into consideration 

 other species, however, I 

 can not find any character 

 or group of characters by 

 which they can be distinguished. The best character which I find to separate the 

 several species of this group is the degree of elongation and the manner of the bend- 



-Flowera of Polianthes sp., nat- 

 ural size. 



Fig. 10.— Flowers of 

 Bravoa geminijlora, 

 natural size. 



