42 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



gentibus subtus asperrimis ; panicula densiflora ovata subsessili 

 lasviuscula, bracteis inferioribus amplis ovatis seu ovato-lanceola- 

 tis pungenti-cuspidatis pergamentaceis albidis, summis ovatis 

 seu lanceolatis albis ; starainibus pistillo vix brevioribus uncina- 

 tis ; ovario prismatico in stylum stigmatibus gracilibus coronatum 

 attenuato ; bacca fere cylindrica elongata rostrata. — T. longi- 

 folia, F.ngelm. in sched. 1846 ; Buckley in Proc. Acad. Phil. xiv. 

 8, 1S62. 



Texas from the Matagorda Bay and the Brazos and Guada- 

 loupe, south and southwestward into Mexico, at least as far as 

 Saltillo, Parras and Chihuahua, on the sea beach and in the in- 

 terior, on the gravelly overflowed banks of streams and on the 

 stony declivities of their slopes ; flowering in April and May. — 

 Specimens from Texas and full notes were supplied by F. Lind- 

 heimer, Mexican ones by Dr. Wislizenus and Dr. Gregg. 



This is perhaps the most magnificent Yucca known ; trunks 

 6-15 and, even in Texas, sometimes 20-25 feet high, and 1-2 feet 

 thick, terminating in several (sometimes 5-7) branches, each one 

 bearing a crown of long rigid leaves, and often a panicle 2-4 feet 

 long of something like 500 flowers. The bark of very old trunks 

 has been noticed above ; younger stems are covered with the re- 

 flexed withered foliage. — Leaves longer than in any other species, 

 2^-3, and very often 4 or even 4 J feet long and 2-3 \ inches wide 

 when flattened out, deeply channeled and quite semi-circular in 

 the cross-section, thick, rigid and straight, " bright sea-green," 

 very rough on the back, less so on the upper surface, terminated 

 by a stout brown spine. The edge of the leaf at different stages 

 of development partakes of the character of all the three forms, 

 as to a less extent also do the leaves of Y. gloriosa; the margin 

 of the young leaf is deep brown with a pale, cartilaginous, 

 strongly serrulate edge ; then it becomes smooth and at last is 

 often detached in brown rough fibres. 



The short peduncle or scape of the inflorescence is 1-2 inches 

 in diameter, the panicle 2-4 feet long, much branched and dense 

 flowered, glabrous or sometimes upwards pubescent, bearing 

 large conspicuous bracts 4 or 5 inches long, 1-3 wide concave, 

 fleshy or leathery, greenish outside, whitish inside, with a sharp 

 herbaceous or brown point ; the ultimate small bracts are similar, 

 mostly ovate-lanceolate ; in Mexican specimens from Parras they 

 are thinner, oblong, obtuse, and pure white. 



