18 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
3. Manfreda potosina (Robinson & Greenman) Rose. 
-lyare potosina Robinson & Greenman, Proc. Am. Acad. 29: 393. 1894. 
Delpinoa graciliima Ross, Boll. Orto Bot. Palermo 1; 117. 1897, 
Stems slender, 3 to6 dm. high; basal leaves 4 to 6, 1 to 1.5 em, long, 10 mim. broad, 
acute, the margin with short linear teeth, sometimes irregularly tipped, rather con- 
spicuous for the genus; flowers 10 to 15, solitary (rarely in pairs) in the axils of 
bracts, short-pediceled; perianth tube 6 mm. Jong, very narrow; lobes 9-nerved, 
equal to the tube; stamens long-exserted, of two lengths; capsule glaucous, 10 to 12 
inmm. in diameter. 
Type locality: ‘Los Charcos,’? San Luis Potosi, Mexico. 
Only known from Mr. Pringle’s specimens (no. 3745). 
Delpmoa gracdlinag is undoubtedly the same as lgare potosina and is probably from 
the same collection, namely, from specimens gathered by Mr. Pringle in 1891 in the 
State of San Luis Potosi. 
I have seen specimens of the latter and it possesses all the characters except the 
paired flowers. Ross describes (and a photograph of his in the Gray Herbarium 
also shows it) the upper flowers as solitary while the lower ones are paired, one being 
sessile while the other is slender-pediceled! This of course isa very remarkable char- 
acter, but the same is occasionally met with among the allied species. Engelmann 
cites a case in which a plant of uf. virginica year after year produced a second flower 
(sometimes a third one) from the bract; peculiar variations in the inflorescence have 
been noted in Poliauthes tuberosa and LP. geminiflora. This leads me to believe that 
the inflorescence is abnormal. All of Mr. Pringle’s herbarium plants have single 
flowers on short pedicels. Agave potosina also has (in agreement with the description 
of Delpinoa) the stamens in two lengths, the tube slightly constricted at base, the 
style wholly included, and the segments short. Ross states in substance that Del- 
pinoa differs from all known Agaveae in having three long and three short stamens 
and in having the flowers in the lower part of the inflorescence paired, while above 
they are solitary, The very unequal stamens in this species seem to be unusual, 
although they are found in some other species, but in other respects it comes very 
close to MW. virginica. 
A photograph in the herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden of a specimen 
which flowered there has the spike with single flowers in the axils of each bract, 
except in one case. 
4. Manfreda maculata ( Mart.) Rose. 
Polianthes maculata Mart. Amoen. Bot. Mon. 19. pl. 13, 1831 (2), not Agave 
maculata Regel (1856) nor Engelmann (1859), 
elqgare pubescens Regel & Ortgies, Gartentl. 23: 227, pl. 804, 1874. 
Basal leaves (in herbarium specimens) 4, somewhat lanceolate, narrowed at. base, 
acuminate, 2.5 cn. or more wide at widest point, 3 dm. long, dull green, with large 
brown spots, pubescent on both sides, paler beneath; stem, including inflorescence, 
less than a meter high; stem leaves 3 or 4, bractlike; flowers rather few, the lower 
ones 2.9 cm. apart, sessile or nearly so, subtended by a narrow bract: perianth tubes 
12 to 16 mm. long, purplish; perianth lobes somewhat shorter; stamens much 
exserted; capsule oblong, 2 em. long, smooth. 
The above description is drawn from flowering specimens of Mr. Nelson’s and 
fruiting specimens of the writer’s. The two specimens come from widely separated 
localities, and it is possible they may represent different forms, but as one is in fruit 
and the other is in flower they can not well be compared. They agree in having 
broad, tapering, pubescent and spotted leaves, a combination which is found in no 
other species known to the writer. 
Specimens examined: 
Chiapas: On ridge near Tonala, K. W. Nelson, August 10, 1894 (no, 2877 
Morelos: In mountain forests above Cucrnavaca, J. N. Rose, May 27 to 30, 1899 
(no. 4402), 
