Tap; 7250. 
FURCRAIA PUBESCENS. 
Native of Mexico. 
Nat. Ord. AMARYLLIDEH.—Tribe AGAVE. 
Genus Furcrma, Bent.; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p. 739.) 
Furcr#a pubescens; acaulis, foliis 12-20 valde recurvatis lanceolatis coria- 
ceis glabris viridibus leviter undulatis, spina terminali vix pungente, 
aculeis marginalibus deltodeis parvis, pedunculo stricto gracili elongato, 
floribus in paniculam laxam rhomboideam dispositis bulbillis copiosis 
intermixtis, pedicellis brevissimis, bracteis deltoideis parvis, ovario viridi 
pubescente, perianthii segmentis oblongis extus puberulis viridi tinctis, 
genitalibus segmentis brevioribus. 
F. pubescens, Baker Handb, Amaryll. p. 201. 
Fourcroya pubescens, Todaro Sopra Nuov. sp. Fourcroya, Palermo 1879, 
pp. 14, with 3 figures. 
These Furcrzas have excited a great deal of attention 
lately as fibre-yielding plants. It is quite evident that the 
species which is best worth cultivating for economic pur- 
poses is I’. gigantea (Bot. Mag. tab. 2250). In the 
present plant the leaves are much shorter and the texture 
is not nearly so firm. One great difficulty in describing 
and ascertaining the limits of the species arises from their 
putting on such a different character when they are 
cultivated in English conservatories, and when they are 
grown in the open, either in their native home in America, 
or in gardens on the shores of the Mediterranean. Last 
November and December I paid a visit to the Riviera to 
study in their full development the species which are 
grown in Mr. Thomas Hanbury’s garden at La Mortola, in 
the Jardin d’Acclimatation at Hyéres, and in the other 
gardens in that region. A full report on this subject will 
be found in the number for January, 1892, of the Kew 
Bulletin. 
Our plate of the present plant looks very different 
as regards luxuriance of growth from that of Todaro, 
and yet no doubt they both represent forms of the same 
species. It was first flowered in the Botanic Garden 
Aveust Ist, 1892. 
