Tab. 7027. 



AGAVE Elemeetiana. 



Native of Mexico. 



Nat. Ord. Amaryllide^:. — Tribe Agaves. 

 Genus Agave, Linn. ; [Benth. et Hoolc.f. Gen. PL vol. iii. p. 738.) 



Agave (Litta?a) Elemeetiana ,- acaulis, foliis 20-25 carnoso-coriaceis dense 

 rosulatis oblanceolatis ad apicem sensim angustatis glaucescentibus margine 

 integris apice haud pungentibus, peduticulo foliis vix longiore, bracteis infe- 

 rioribus products, superioribus adpressis scariosis lineari-subulatis basi 

 dilatatis, floribus in racemum densum cylindricum dispositis in bractearuin 

 axillis geminis pedunculo communi obsoleto, pedicellis ovario ajquilongis, 

 perianthii tubo brevi cylindrico, limbo campanulato pallide luteo segmentis 

 oblongis, staminibus limbo 3-4-plo longioribus, fructu oblongo-trigono pro 

 genere parvo. 



A. Elemeetiana, Jacuhi Monogr. pp. 178, 313,- Baler in Sound. Bef. Hot. 1. 103 ; 

 in Gard. Chron. 1877, pt. ii. p. 748, fig. 115; Ilandh. Amaryllid. p. 193. 



This species differs from all the other Agaves except 

 A. attenuata, Salm Dyck (A. glaucescens, Hook, in Bot. 

 Mag. tab. 5333), in having entire broad soft leaves, and 

 from that species in being monocarpic. The Agaves of 

 this soft-leaved series are less hardy than the Americans 

 and Marginatae. Fortunately the present plant produces 

 seeds copiously in cultivation, so that there is no danger 

 of its being lost. It was introduced from Mexico about 

 1864, and was named by Jacobi after M. Jonghe Van 

 Elemeet, whose fine collection of succulent plants was 

 dispersed in 1873. It was first flowered in 1867 by Mr. 

 Wilson Saunders, who received it from Chiswick. We 

 have had it at Kew for many years, and flowered it several 

 times. Our drawing was made from a plant at Kew in 

 May, 1888. 



Desob. Acaulescent. Leave* twenty or twenty-five in a 

 dense rosette, oblanceolate, one and a half or two feet 

 long, four to six inches broad above the middle, narrowed 

 gradually to a non-pungent tip and to three inches above 

 the dilated base, soft in texture, persistently glaucous, 

 nearly flat on the face and back in the lower half, entirely 



NOVEMBER ] ST, 1888. 



