﻿LITERATURE OF FURCRAEA WITH SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES. 61 



The remarks, however, rather point to F. tuherosa, Ven- 

 tenat. 



gigantea,D. Dietr. Syn. PI. = Furcraca gigantea, 



ii. 1192 (1840). Ventenat. 

 hexapetala, Jacquin (1760). = Agave cubensis, Jacquin 



(1763), i. e. Furcraea 

 cubensis, Ventenat. 

 madagascariensis, Sprengel = Furcraea (Fourcroea) 



Syst. ii. 79 (1825). madagascariensis, 



Haworth Suppl. 

 mexicana, Poiret Suppl. 241 = Furcraea cubensis, 



(1810). Ventenat. 



Towards the end of the 18th century the Jardin du Roi at 

 Paris possessed, among other Agaveae, a plant named Agave 

 mexicana, which was very likely that listed by Desfontaines 

 under the same name in 1804 (Tableau de TEcole, p. 28). 

 Desfontaines' "mexicana" was in all probability the species 

 still known under that name in certain gardens of South 

 Europe (cf. specimens and photographs in Herb. Kew.from 

 the Ricasoli garden at Florence, also from Coimbra), but 

 commonly (in its naturahzed condition) as " americana" , 

 which is A. Vera Cruz of Phihp Miller (Gard. Diet., ed. viii. 

 1708), and possibly A. lurida of Alton in Hort. Kew., but not 

 of Jacquin. In the Encyclopedic Methodique (1784) i. 52, 

 Lamarck mentioned the Paris Garden plant, citing as the 

 only synonym ''Aloe americana flore luteo" of Morison 

 (Hist. p. 415), "Metl or Maguci of the Mexicans"; but this 

 "Aloe" of Morison's was little better than a figment based 

 on a misreading of Recchi's edition of Hernandez, where 

 there are two "yellow Magueys" one of which is Tlacametl, 

 and the other Metl Cotzli, but neither is the pulque-yielding 

 Maguey of the Mexicans, i. e.the half mythical Metl par excel- 

 lence of the early authors. Of his typical " mexicana "Lamarck 

 printed no description, but he placed with it, — as var. /3 — 

 Jacquin's Agave cubensis. The description which follows 

 the "variety" is taken from Jacquin and applies to cubensis 

 solely, but remarks are added which relate to the supposed 



