56 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
Utahensis* was seen with forty-two well developed heads 
besides many smaller ones growing from a single root.” 
Dr. E. L. Greenef describes a remarkable case of abnor- 
mal flowering of A. applanata Parryi. «+ The mature cen- 
tral and parental member of a cluster of plants on coming 
into flower, had communicated its floriferous energy to all 
its offspring, great and small, and there were eight or ten 
of them, each of which bore at the same time its scape of 
flowers.”’ 
A number of species belonging to the Euagave section 
are viviparous. Young plants or bulbilli are produced on 
the branches of the scape in place of, or in connection 
with, the capsules. These give a queer appearance to the 
plant while they still remain attached. They eventually 
fall to the ground, take root, and grow into good plants. 
On page 53, a plant labeled A. horrida micracantha, 
which bloomed at the Garden last winter, was spoken of. 
A few weeks after the flowering had ceased and while the 
abundant fruit was being rapidly matured, quite a large 
number of bulbilli appeared just below the apex of the 
scape, at about the point where the flowers had ceased to 
form. A similar development has been observed else- 
where upon a plant of the Littaea section.t 
Thus protected and defended, thus prepared in so many 
ways to propagate their species, the Agaves are seen to be 
well fitted to sustain life in the desolate barren mountains 
and superheated valleys to which they have been assigned. 
Their vitality is most wonderful. Plants are frequently 
taken up by the roots and kept for months with no water 
or care of any kind, and afterwards on being planted, show 
good growth. 
Unfortunately, little is known in regard to the pollina- 
tion of these plants. Bees and flies are seen upon them. 
Though some flowers of the species in bloom here last 
* Contributions from the U. 8. National Herbarium, iii. Nov. 29, 1893, 
201. 
¢ Erythaea, 1893. i, 52. ¢{ Engelmann, Collected Writings, 308. 
