ENGELMANN — NOTES OX AGAVE. 3OI 



domain. The spikes are slender, the flowers fragrant, the stig- 

 matic lobes wide-spreading. 



1. Agave maculosa, Hook. Bot. Mag. 1S59, t. 5122: foliis 

 e caudice subterraneo crasso cylindrico lanceolato-linearibus con- 

 cavis undulatis demum recurvatis glaucis lurido-macnlatis carti- 

 lagineo-denticulatis ; spicae laxiflorae bracteis lanceolato-subulatis ; 

 ovario ovato-lanceolato brevi, lobis lineari-oblongis erecto-patulis 

 tubo gracili subcylindrico sursum parum ampliato plerumque 

 multo brevioribus, staminibus fauci ipsae insertis lobos vix aequan- 

 tibus stylnm plerumque superantibus, stigmatibus demum patulis 

 obcordatis ; capsula oblonga longe cuspidata basi in stipitem con- 

 tracta. — A. maculata^ Engelm. in Bot. Mex. Bound. 1S59, p. 214, 

 11011 Regel ; A. Virginica, Torr. ibid., 11011 al. 



Var. 3. brevituba : lobis perigonii tubo magis ampliato fere 

 aaquilongis, antheris longioribus. 



Along the Rio Grande from below El Paso to Matamoros, 

 Wislizenus. 1 S47 ; Bigelow. Schott, 1850-52; the variety below 

 El Paso, Wright, No. 1095. — Fl. May and June. — The caudex, 

 somewhat different from the allied species, is a black cylindric 

 stock 2-4 inches thick and 4-6 inches long, bearing thick white 

 radical fibres at the base. Leaves 5-1 foot long, as many inches 

 wide, concave, flexuous, at length recurved ; scape 2-4 feet high, 

 spike 6-12 inches long: fragrant purplish-green flowers, about 

 2-2 J inches long ; ovary 3-4 lines, tube 1 inch and lobes 7-9 lines 

 long, filaments* and anthers as long as lobes. The stigma is 

 remarkable on account of the deep emargination, almost biloba- 

 tion, which form is only indicated in other Agaves, but is distinct 

 in Polyanthes. The firmer texture of the capsule (ii inches 

 long, i inch thick), and its stipe and beak, further characterize 

 this species. Seed 2-25 lines wide, thicker than usual in this 

 genus, marked by a flat reticulation. 



2. Agave Virginica, Lin. : acaulis ; foliis late sen oblongo- 

 lanceolatis concavis undulatis flexuosis demum recurvis kete viri- 

 dibus herbaceo mucronatis margine asperatis ; perigonii ovario 



* This is one of the few Agaves with stamens so short that the}' may be called included; 

 they occur in all three sections. It is not impossible that superficial investigation has 

 classed several of these American plants with the Asiatic genus Polyanthes; but they have 

 — at least this one has— an entirely inferior ovary and filaments doubled up in the bud, both 

 of which characters are wanting in Polyanthes. Kunth (En. 5, p. 48) already suggests this 

 in regard to Polyanthes Mexicana, Zucc. 



