0 ge ee SE ER ee 
122 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
the specific name Washingtonensis has been adopted. The 
leaves form a dense rosette and are of a dark green color. 
The spike was fully 5 feet long and somewhat curved. 
Although belonging to the Littaea section, the flowers are 
borne in clusters of three to six. They are greenish with 
purplish margins to the segments. During the summer the 
plant.was put out in the grounds and received little or no 
attention. A few capsules matured and seeds have been 
sent to Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden, and some 
have been planted here. It is hoped that enough plants 
will thus be raised to supply all collectors of this genus. 
In September afew bulblets were produced on the old 
flower stalk. Although the plant was supposed to be dying, 
it was taken into the greenhouse for the winter and in 
January, 1898, sent out an axillary bud. The species is 
therefore polycarpic. It may be technically described as 
follows: — 
Acaulescent; leaves numerous (20 to 25), forming a dense rosette, 
spatulate-oblong, 24 feet long, 3 to 4 inches wide near the middle, taper- 
ing to two inches at base, dark green, hardly glaucous, not banded, 
margined throughout with a brown horny edge furnished with small 
irregular deltoid, sometimes hooked teeth 1 to 2 lines long; end spine 
short and pungent; peduncle 2 feet long, more or less covered with long 
acuminate brownish bracts; spike about 5 feet long, more or less curved; 
bracts often subtending 3 to 6 flowers; ovary 9 lines long; perianth tube 
very short or wanting; segments oblong, 10 lines long, 8 lines broad, 
greenish, the margins purplish, obtuse; stamens under 2 inches long; 
style longer than the stamens. 
It belongs to Mr. J. G. Baker’s group Rigidae. Probably 
a native of Mexico. 
AGAVE ALBICANS. 
A plant of this species flowered here in 1896 and another 
began to flower May 1, 1897. Both of these are choice 
plants. Although this species may be classed among the 
smaller agaves yet it is a showy one. It has a compara- 
tively short pole, but the flowers are large, in a rather 
dense cluster. The foliage is quite handsome, being of a 
