r 



/ 



# 



AGAVE RIGIDA— FURCRAEA RIGIDA 



AGAVE ANGUSTIFOLIA. 



BY WILLIAM TRELEASE. 



These three names have stood as puzzles for nearly a cen- 

 tury, though the first, with the others as synonyms, is now 

 commonly applied to the Yucatan group of suckering hene- 

 quen or sisal Agaves. 



The original diagnoses are, respectively: 



"Foliis lincari-lanceolatis integerrimis rigidis aculeo terminatis."* 



''Foliis lineari-lanceolatis superne integerrimis, basi ipso serrato-spinosis,"t 



"Caulescens, foliis anguste lanccolatis glaucis dentato-serratis."J 



Miller, calling it one of the tenderer sorts, says further of 

 A, rigidaj in the notes following his enumeration of species: 



''The eighth sort hath long narrow stiff leaves^ which are entire, and are 

 terminated by a stiff black spine. These leaves are seldom more than two 

 feet longhand little more than an inch broad, being of a glaucous colour; 

 The side leaves stand almost horizontally, but the center leaves are folded 



E 



over each other, and inclose the flower-bud. This sort never puts out 

 suckers from the root, nor have I seen any plants of this kind in flower, 

 although there are many of them in the English gardens, some of which 

 are of a considerable age." 



Haworth indicates that his Furcraea rigida is Miller's Agave 

 rigida but not Agave lurida /3 of the then newly issued second 

 edition of Alton's Hortus Kewensis, though he saw it growing 

 at Kcw. He makes the observation on his Agave angustij olia , 

 ^^ folia angustissima omnium;'' and a few years later§ writes: 



"There are two plants of Agave angustijolia in Chelsea garden, lately 

 brought back from the rock of St. Helena, by which we learn its native 

 place. They were short-leaved on their arrival; but cultivation has al- 

 ready nearly communicated to them their customary appearance with us." 



No other directly authentic publication on either is to be 

 found; and no original herbarium specimens or living plants 

 of either are known to exist. 



* Miller, Gard. Diet. 7 ed. Agave no. 8. (1759). — A binominal was first 

 appUed, under the same number, in the eighth edition (1768). 

 t Haworth, Synops. Plant. Succulent. 74. (1812). 



t Haworth, I. c. 72. 



§ Revis, Plant. Succulent. 35. (1821). 



18 



I 



(273) 



