﻿LITERATURE OF FURCRAEA WITH SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES. 65 



Maycock gives, in all, three different Agaveae as found in 

 Barbados, viz. (1) ''A. americana a." {2) "A. americana 

 (3) "A. vivipara, " Of these no. 2 is doubtless the A. 

 americana var. /3 variegata of Bot. Mag. 3654, and in Bar- 

 bados, as elsewhere, a garden plant of which the origin is so 

 far undiscovered. By his no. 1 Maycock understood one or 

 more of the ^' Keratto" group, which is characteristic of the 

 Western Antilles, but extends, though possibly not as an 

 original inhabitant, to the lesser islands, and to parts of the 

 mainland, e. g. the coasts of Guiana and Venezuela; he was 

 naturally surprised to find no. 2 authoritatively named in 

 Europe "A. americana,'' perceiving rightly that it is a very 

 different plant from the West Indies type which he was 

 accustomed to refer (erroneously) to the "americana" of Lin- 

 naeus. For no. 3 he cites Hughes [History of Barbados] 

 p. 224, where a good description of the local Silk-grass (cf. 

 "Silk-Dagger" etc. in Barber) or Aloe Barhadiensis (cf. Hort. 

 Eltham. tab. xix. fig. 21 and text 1, 23) leaves no room for 

 doubt regarding the identity of Maycock's "A. vivipara" 

 with Furcraea tuberosa, Ait. fil.: Maycock observes that 

 the Keratto was usually planted, whereas "A. vivipara" 

 occurred more in natural situations: and he adds that the 

 Jamaica Silk-grass must be something altogether different. 

 What that was or is, need not here be discussed, but it cer- 

 tainly was not any species of Furcraea. 



Beschorneria multifiora, = Furcraea Bedinghausi, 

 Hort. ex K. Koch in K. Koch. 



Wochenschr. vi. p. 234 

 (1863). 



FouRCRAEA gigantea, Reichb. = Furcraea gigantea^ 

 Fl. Exot. iii. no. 202 (1835). Ventenat. 



The illustration is copied from Bot. Mag. 2250. 



FouRCROEA Cantala,-\ = Agave Cantala, 

 Haworth Suppl. (1819). Roxburgh? 



madagascariensis ,^ Haworth = Furcraea gigantea, 

 Suppl. (1819). Ventenat? 



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