THE YUCCEAE. 119 
baccata, These specimens (nos. 2841, 3912), represent 
another species of Samuela, which, from near the city of 
Saltillo extends southwards, on the mountain slopes and in 
the higher valleys, to some distance below the Tropic of 
Cancer, and is especially abundant in the higher valleys 
about Carneros pass, where the Mexican National railroad 
crosses the mountains south of Saltillo, and about Las 
Tablas on the Tampico branch of the Mexican Central. 
' Like the preceding species, this is a low round-headed 
tree, very rarely bearing one or two short branches at the 
apex, and thus in marked contrast with the branched 
shorter-leaved Y. australis which accompanies it in 
small numbers about Carneros and elsewhere. The leaves 
vary considerably in thickness, and the thinner ones are 
usually a little plicate though they are still thick and rigid. 
The very thick fibers of the leaves distributed by Mr. 
Pringle are exceptional. The axis of inflorescence, which, 
though usually erect, is sometimes arched over by the 
weight of the enormous panicle, is unusually succulent and 
devoid of fiber, so that a stalk as thick as one’s wrist can 
be severed by a single cut of a pocket-knife. A striking 
feature of both species of the genus, but particularly 
marked in S. Carnerosana, is the compact depressed bud, 
as much as 100 mm. in diameter, in which each branch of 
the panicle ends until blooming is far advanced. Even 
from a distance, the pure waxen-white fragrant flowers, 
which remain expanded to an unexpected degree during 
the daytime, are marked by their cylindrical tube which 
gives them the appearance of those of Polianthes, though 
the ovary is free from the perianth, as in other Liliaceae. 
The fruit of both species, like that of the baccate Yuccas 
of the southwest, is usually greenish-yellow, though some- 
times tinged with red or purple, and the soft sweet pulp is 
pale. 
