A STUDY OF THE AGAVES OF THE UNITED STATES.* 
BY A. ISABEL MULFORD. 
A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE GENUS. 
Jacobi,t Koch,t Terraciano,§ and Baker|| in their works 
upon the genus Agave have all given attention to forms 
occurring within our territory. Dr. John Torrey made a 
good study] of those collected in connection with the 
Survey of the United States and Mexican Boundary under 
Lieutenant Emory. But Dr. Engelmann’s ** able paper 
still remains the only monograph specially devoted to our 
species, and is still the most complete and best authority 
concerning them. In connection with his manuscript notes 
and drawings relating to the genus, it forms one of the many 
monuments of his skill and patient industry. 
During the years that have intervened since 1875, our 
southwestern territory has been more extensively explored 
and is much better known. It was hopedthat a further study 
of thisgenus might add to our knowledge of itsspecies, and of 
their distribution. No place could be more appropriate for 
such a work than the Missouri Botanical Garden. In its 
large succulent house the collection of our own and foreign 
* Revised from a paper written as a thesis in connection with work 
for the degree of Ph. D. in Washington University, June, 1895. 
+ G. A. von Jacobi, Versuch zu einer systematischen Ordnung der 
Agaveen. 1864. Zweiter Versuch, etc. 1870. Hamburg. 
t Karl Koch, Agaveen Studien. 1865. 
§ Achille Terraciano, Primo Contributo ad una Monographia delle 
Agave, Napoli. 1875. 
|| J. G. Baker, Handbook of the Amaryllideae, London. 1888. 
q J. Torrey, Botany of the Boundary, 1858, 213. 
** Transactions of Academy of Science of St. Louis, iii. 291 to 322. 
Reprint issued December, 1875, 3 to 35. Botanical Works of George 
Engelmann. Collected for Henry Shaw, 1887, 300 to 325. 
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