Tad. 7877. 

 SANSEVIERIA grandis. 



Native of Tropical Africa ? 



Nut. Ord. ILeuodorace.e. — Tribe Oi'JiioroGONEJ!. 

 Genus Sansevieria, Thunb.; (Benth. & Hooh.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 679.) 



Sanseviekia grandis; acaulis, radicibus crassie, foliia amplis planis roaulatis 

 inaequilongis sessilibus patulis, majoribus 3-4-pedalibus obovato-oblongis 

 6 poll, latis rigide coriaceia acutis v. apiculatis utrinque luride viridibus 

 fasciis Baturatioribus transversis ornatis, marginibus anguste cartilagineia 

 rubro-brunneis, scapo erecto 2-pedali robusto stricto viridi vaginispaucia 

 lanceolatia coriaceia instructo, panicula spicasformi tripedali erecta stiicta 

 dense multiflora, rachi crassiti digiti minoria viridi, bracteis minutis 

 triangularibua acutis scarioais triflori8, floribua seseilibus v. breviter pedi- 

 cellatia fere 2 poll, longis albis, perianthii tubo limbo paullo breviore 

 basi dilatato ovoideo, limbi segments pollicaiibus Hnearibua aubacutis 

 1-nerviis, filamentis segmentia perianthii asquilongis filiformibua, atitheris 

 lineari-oblongis loculis contiguis, ovario oblongo tereti, stylo etaminibua 

 longiore, atigmate capitellato. 



S, grandis, Hook.f. 



This very noble species of <s Bowstring hemp " was pre- 

 sented to the Royal Gardens, Kew, in 1896, by the Royal 

 Botanic Society, Regent's Park, who received it from Dr. 

 Heath, F.L.S., of Ebury Street, London. Referring to 

 that gentleman, he told me that roots of it were given to 

 him by a Cuban merchant, who informed him that the 

 plants had been introduced into Cuba by a company formed 

 to grow it for its fibre, and that the company had failed, 

 owing to the cultivation of the plant not having been 

 carried out in a practical manner. The fibre, he adds, is 

 fine, white, silky, and is of extraordinary strength, far 

 exceeding any other, a few strands of it being sufficient 

 to hang a man. 



Referring to the Kew Museum of Economic Botaiw, 1 

 was informed by Mr. Hillier that in the Cuban Catalogue 

 of textile materials in the Paris Exhibition of 1900, there 

 is the following brief allusion to what is, no doubt, 

 S. grandis, " 11 y a d'autres plantes textiles, comnie la 

 Lengua de Vaca, Sansevieria %p** The term, Cow's tongue, 

 appears to be appropriate to the form of the leaf of this 

 species. 

 Fbb&uast 1st, 1903. 



