﻿26 



MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



the plant grown at Hampton Court in 1690 was in fact the 

 plant of Vcntcnat. As regards no. 5, the text of the Hortus 

 Kewcnsis is as follows: — 



"5. A. caulescens, foliis dentato-spinosis. 



a spinis solitariis. Agave tuberosa. Mill. diet. Single-spined tuberous- 

 rooted Agave. 



/3 spinis duplicibus. Double-spined tuberous-rooted Agave. Nat. of 

 America. Cult. 1739, by Mr. Ph. MUler. Rand. Cliel. Aloe 34." 



A note is added that this species and the one preceding it 

 there {Agave lurida) are doubtful, the fruit being unknown. 

 In the 1811 edition of the Hortus Kewensis (ii. 302-303) 

 these two species are reproduced under Furcraea, with a 

 slightly expanded synonymy, but the former note is expunged, 

 and a fresh observation is inserted, relating solely to F. tube- 

 rosa and stating that the flowers of F. tuberosa are the size of 

 the flowers of F. gigantea, and twice those of its congener, 

 Agave cubensis, Jacq. 



By 1811 therefore there were four Furcraeas known at Kew; 

 but only two of these were actually cultivated in the garden, 

 and those two were looked on as merely forms of a single 

 variable species; thus, 



1. Furcraea gigantea, Yont. 



2. Furcraea tuberosa, Ait* 



3. Furcraea tuberosa, spinis duplicibus.* 



4. Furcraea (Agave) cubensis, Jacq. 



The next question is whether the Agave viiipara of Alton 

 represents a fifth Furcraea, as from the original Linnaean 

 description should evidently be the case. In both editions 

 of the Hortus Kewensis Agave vivipara is referred to Aloe 

 no. 7 of the first edition of Miller's Gardeners' Dictionary, 

 which Miller himself identified with Aloe soboHfera (of Her- 

 mann), a West Indian Eu-Agave, and most likely the same as 

 A. antillarum, Descourtilz. If, as seems probable, the plant 

 actually grown at Kew was Hermann's Aloe sobolifera then 



* Represetited in the garden. 



