Tas. 6316. 
YUCCA orcuHro1pEs, var. MAJOR. 
Native of the Southern United States. 
Nat. Ord. Lit1acea.—Tribe YuccompeR. 
Genus Yucoa, Linn. (Engelmann, Monograph.) 
Yooca orchioides, var. major; acaulis, foliis 12-15 ensiformibus chartaceis 
glauco-viridibus 12-15-poll. longis deorsum margine parce filamentosis, 
scapo puberulo pedali, panicule laxe ramis brevibus erecto-patentibus, 
pedicellis inferioribus geminis bracteis 2-3-plo brevioribus, floribus inapertis 
viridulis, perianthii albidi segmentis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis 18-21 lin. 
longis, filamentis pilosis perianthio triplo brevioribus, stylis ovario subduplo 
brevioribus. 
In this group of Yuccas it is very difficult to settle 
satisfactorily where one species ends and another begins. 
Of described forms the present plant comes nearest to 
Y. orchioides of Carriere, described in the ‘Revue Horticole,’ 
for 1861 at page 369 and figured at tab. 89 and 90. It 
differs from this by its more robust habit, branched 
inflorescence, longer styles and longer more acute perianth 
segments. It is probable that in a broad sense orchioides 
is not more than an extreme variety of jilamentosa, and if so 
this should be regarded as a connecting link in the series. 
It was drawn from a plant which flowered in the Kew 
collection in July, 1875, and is perfectly hardy. 
Descr. Leaves twelve or fifteen in a stemless rosette, 
ensiform, glaucous green, chartaceous, a foot or a foot and a 
quarter Jong, an inch broad at the middle, with a few short 
threads splitting off from the margin in the lower half. 
Scape erect, about a foot long, with five or six erect reduced 
leaves. Panicle as long as the scape, with a densely 
pubescent rachis, and five or six short lax erecto-patent 
branches ; pedicels about a quarter of an inch long, the 
lower ones in pairs; bracts membranous, lanceolate, two or 
three times as long as the pedicels. Buds tinged with 
SEPTEMBER Ist, 1877. 
