figure of S. lanuginosa accords with S. Roxburghiana, as 
does the inflorescence; but what is very singular is, that 
Rheede, though dwelling on the medicinal value of the 
leaves of his plant, says not a word of its uses as yield- 
ing a fibre. Rheede gives as its habitat, Malabar in 
sandy places. Roxburgh says of his plant that in 
Coromandel it grows very commonly under bushes in thin 
forests, in almost every soil, flowering from January till 
May; and adds an account of its cultivation, and the pre- 
paration and uses of the fibre. Referring to the Kew 
Herbarium, I find a specimen from Rottler’s Herbarium — 
named 8. lanuginosa, Willd., with perfectly glabrous leaves, 
and aecording, in all respects, with 8. Roxburghiana; and 
others from the Island of Antigua, where it is naturalized. 
In the many works on the economic products of India in 
which the native Sansevieria is mentioned as a cordage- 
yielding plant, it is impossible to say whether S. Roz- 
burghiana or zeylanica is meant. The latter, of which a 
good figure is given in the Botanical Register (t. 160) is a 
reputed native of Ceylon, and is said to be cultivated for 
its fibre in India. Mr. Baker informs me that S. zeylanica 
is a native of South and probably also of Tropical Africa. 
Tn conclusion, it must be left to Indian botanists to clear 
up the history of the Indian Sansevierias, a plant which 
may prove of great value, now that the fibre-yielding Aloes 
Agaves and their allies are attracting so much attention in 
the British market. 
The specimen of S. Roxburghiana here figured, and which 
“precisely accords with Roxburgh’s description and the 
drawing in his unpublished Icones at Kew, was received 
by Messrs. Veitch from Burma, and flowered in the Royal 
Gardens, Kew, in July, 1895. 
Descr.—Stem very short. Leaves about 8-9 in a tuft, 
two to two and a half feet long, by one inch broad 
towards the middle, suberect, rigid, dagger-formed, con- 
cave above, and ending in a terete point nearly two inches 
long, pale green fasciated with darker green narrowly 
bordered with red, upper surface concave, striated, lower 
rounded, about a quarter of an inch thick from back to 
front, margin thin, lowest leaves shorter and broader. 
Peduncle a foot long, cylindric, green. Haceme one to one 
and a half feet long, by one and a half to two inches in 
