BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 17 



the others converted into a mass of wood-mould held together only 

 by the bark, that there one willingly avoids going forward on an un- 

 broken path. If that must be done, the progress made is small, 

 and there is constant danger of breaking one's bones in the labyrinth 

 of stems. Nearly everywhere the fallen stems are covered, often 

 concealed, by an exceedingly luxuriant bed of mosses, while on the 

 other hand tree-lichens, probably in consequence of the dry inland 

 climate of Siberia, occur sparingly. The pines, therefore, want the 

 shaggy covering common in Sweden, and the bark of the birches 

 which are seen here and there among the pines is distinguished by an 

 uncommon blinding whiteness." — Nature. 



Some Notes 011 Yucca. —Yucca elata : Trunk 3 to 5 feet or 

 more high, leaves linear rigid sharp pointed, filamentose on the white 

 margins ; with white oval acute or acuminate bracts as long as the 

 pedicels ; flowers white, segments ovate acute, ovary attenuated into 

 a whitish style; capsule cylindrical-ovate obtuse short-cuspidate; 

 seeds large, % inch wide narrowly wing-margined. — Y. angustifolia, 

 var. elata. Engelm. Notes on Yucca p. 50. Y. constricta, Baker, 

 Yuccoideae p. 229; not Buckley. 



Deserts of Arizona probably extending into southern New Mexico 

 and Mexico. Altogether one of the most stately Yuccas, distinguished 

 from the closely allied Y. angustifolia, with which I had formerly 

 united it by its distinct trunk, which is usually 3 to 5 feet, but wnich 

 I have seen even 10 or n feet high, and 3 to 7 inches thick, and es 

 pecially by its long flowering scape, 3 to 7 feet, naked below, and 

 bearing a much branched panicle often 5 feet long ; flowers spreading, 

 3^ to 4 inches wide, while those of the allied species are more glo- 

 bose, mostly of greenish color, with broadly oval concave segments, 

 with a green stigma ; capsule similar to that of angustifolia, seeds of 

 same size as in that species but with a narrower margin. Young spec- 

 imens flower before they mane a trunk and they look much like Y. 

 angustifolia but can always be distinguished by the naked scape and by 

 the characters of the flower. 



Yucca constricta, Buckley, appears to be a form of Y. angustifolia 

 with a short trunk ; the constricted capsules ascribed to it are not 

 normal but occasionally occur in all species of Yucca. 



Yucca macrocarpa, Engelm. 6.224 of this journal has now 

 been found by C. G. Pringle in flower ; the panicle is densely pubes- 

 cent; flowers about 2^ to 3^ inches wide with broadly oval acutish 

 segments. Y. baccata has a glabrous panicle and larger flowers with 

 narrow tapering segments. Y. Schottii, Engelm., Yucc. 46, from Ari- 

 zona, is known only from Schott's notes and very poor specimens and 

 has never been identified since. Its panicle is likewise pubescent; 

 its leaves short, narrow and very {hick, with few thin fibres. It may 

 possibly be a small-leaved form of Y. macrocarpa, which also shows a 

 few thin fibres on the leaves. Both are recommended to the study ol 

 observers. — G. Engelmann. 



