Tab. 5493. 

 AGAVE Saundersii. 



Mr. Saunders s Agave. 



Xat. Ord. AmabylliDba. — Hexandria Moxogynia. 

 Gen. Char. (Fide supra, Tab. 5333.) 



Agave Saundersii; acaulis, foliis horizontaliter patentibus glaucis bipedalibus 

 4 uncias latis lanceolato-oblongis basi angustiore spinoso-acuaiinatissimis, 

 margine spiuosis, spinis triangulari-acutissimis subdistantibus atro-purpu- 

 reis, scapo 14-pedali copiose bracteato, pedunculis 4-pollicaribus teretibus 

 horizontalibus distantibus, basi unibracteatis, bractea orate longe subulata 

 basi interne lato-carinata, fasciculis globosis submultifloris, floribua com- 

 pactia subsessilibus basi bracteolatis, ovariis subcylindraceis obscure aulcatia 

 viridibus sesquipollicaribus, limbi flavi laciniis suberectis oblongo-lanceolatis 

 acutis, staiuinibua perianthii longitudine tequalibus, aatheriaque pallide fla- 

 vis, stylo } longitudine nlamentorum, stigmate globoso, capsula (immatura) 

 elliptica. 



Perhaps no plants require more illustration by figures than 

 the species of a genus of which we here represent one, which 

 we venture to consider as new. It promises to be a genus 

 numerous in individuals, and these of a most interesting cha- 

 racter, and of which the well-known American Aloe {Agave 

 Americana) is the type. Travelling botanists in vain attempt to 

 preserve specimens for the herbarium,— they cannot therefore be 

 studied there;— and in our gardens, except in some great public 

 establishments, few are disposed to sacrifice the space necessary 

 for their cultivation, and they are proverbially shy of flowering so 

 much so, that the Agave Americana is generally and to this day 

 spoken of as the plant which " flowers once in a hundred years 

 It is true that of late, in a German work,* a " monographische 

 Skizze " is given of no less than sixty- four species, apparently 

 of those in cultivation, with brief specific characters,— a large 

 proportion of them derived from the foliage alone, so that they 



* ' Wochenschrift des Yereines zur Beforderung des Gartenbaues in den Ku- 

 niglicb-Preussischen Staaten, fur Giirtnerei und Pflanzenkunde. 

 PF.imuARY 1st, 1865. 



