ee 
Tas. 8429. 
AGAVE prorTuBERANS. 
Mexico. 
AMARYLLIDACEAE. Tribe AGAVEAE. 
Aaave, Linn,; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 738. 
Agave protuberans, Engelm. ex Baker, Handb. Amaryll. p. 197; species ex 
affinitate 4. virginicve, Linn., a qua floribus congestis tuboque perianthii 
multo breviore differt. 
Herba, acaulescens. Tuber globosum, 5 cm. diametro, perenne. Folia radicalia, 
rosulata, subcarnosa, fragilia, lineari-lanceolata, 15-20 cm. longa, 3-4 cm. 
lata, supra canaliculata vel fere conduplicata, viridia, brunneo-purpureo- 
maculata, marginibus planis vel undulatis, angustissime albo-cartilagineis, 
minutissime denticulatis instructa. Scapa erecta, 60 cm. alta, 6 mm. 
diametro, rigida, subglauca. Bracteae lanceolatae, acuminatae, 4°5 cm. 
longae, sursum gradatim minores, crassae. Spica 10 em. longa, densiflora ; 
flores in papillas rhachidis tumidas singulatim insidentes; bracteolae 2, 
altera abaxialis, e basi deltoidea 6 mm. lata acuminata, 12 mm. longa, 
purpurascens, albo-marginata, altera lateralis, 4 mm. longa, 1°5 mm. lata, 
membranacea, albescens. Perivnthii tubus 8 mm. longus; segmenta 1°5 
em. longa, 5 mm. lata, oblonga, obtusa, apice leviter cucullata, viridescentia, 
minute purpureo-maculata. Fi/amenta longe exserta, 4 cm. longa, subulata, 
alba, purpureo-maculata; antherae oblongae, 13 mm. longae, brunneo- 
purpureae. Ovarium 10 mm. longum, 6 mm. latum, 6-costatum, obliquum ; 
stylus cylindricus, staminibus aequilongus; stigma incrassatum, trilobum, 
—A. guttata, Hemsl. Biol. Amer.-Centr. vol. iii. p. 348, tab. 87, non Jacobi 
et Bouché. Leichtlinia protuberans, Herm, Ross in Teon. Plant. Hort. 
Panorm. p. 8, tab. 3 (1896); Engl. & Prantl, Natiirl. Pflanzenf. Nachtr. il. 
p- 11, may iii. p. 49.—C. H. Wrieut. 
The subject of our illustration is one of those Agaveae 
which differ both from the true Agaves and from the 
Littaeas in having the flowers solitary on simple racemes 
or spikes and in having herbaceous leaves without a terminal 
pungent spine. Considerable diversity of opimion has 
existed with regard to the status of the group which 
about a century ago appeared to Salisbury entitled to 
generic recognition, though the name Manfreda, a Sap 
by him for Agave virginica, Linn., figured at t. 1157 o 
this work, was not published until 1866. Thirty years 
later H. Ross treated the group as a distinct genus Leicht- 
linia, a name bestowed upon the species now figured because 
of its introduction by the late Mr. Max Leichtlin. But the 
structure of the flowers in all species of Manfreda, which 
Aprin, 1912. 
