THE FLOEAL WORLD AKD GAEDEN GUIDE. 251 



SCniZANTHUS PIXNATA. 



I treat this in the same manner as the Neniophila, except the trainincr ; it 

 requires only one stick in tlie centre. With proper care, this niuy be grown into a 

 pyramid five feet high, freely brandling from the base. The s;ime soil as recom- 

 mended for the Mignonette will suit the Nemophila and the Schizanthus. A. S. 



EOUECEOYA LONG.EYA. 



HE Fourcroya longreva, Karw. and Zucc. (Amaryllidaceae), has been 

 discovered by Zuccarini, near Oaxaca, in Mexico, near tlie summit of 

 Mount Tanga, at an altitude above the sea of 10,000 feet, and in other 

 parts of that vast country in similar positions. There, according to 

 that botanist, its trunk or stipe attains a hei^lit of from forty to nfty 

 feet, and a diameter of from twelve to eighteen inches, always simple — tliat is to say, 

 without i-am'.fications, it carries tlie cicatrices of the fallen leaves. At the summit 

 is a vast and raagnihcent sub^irbicular crown of very numerous sword-shaped leaves, 

 from five to six feet in length. From the centre of this crown rises tlie floral scape, 

 which attains from tbirty-six to forty feet in height, ramified from the base, the 

 branches having there a horizontal development nearly equal to the height of the 

 scape — that is to say, twelve to fifteen feet each. The innumerable flowers, fascicu- 

 lated, from 3 5, are gieen, with cream-coloured limb, resembling a star. They emit 

 an extremely powerful odour, which, if inspired too near, ceases to be agreeable, 

 and becomes powerfully nauseous. 



Such is a faithful portrait of this remarkable vegetable ; and the reader may 

 judge tor himself what a grand picturesque efl"ect it must have in its native moun- 

 tains in the eyes of the enchanted traveller. 



It lias existed for several years already in the collections of the principal 

 amateurs and horticulturists, and has had many erroneous names applied to it, ^uch 

 as Yucca species. Yucca Parmentieri, Y. argt/rophi/lla, Agave species., inermis, etc. 

 Very recently we found it announced in the circular of a nurservman as constituting 

 a distinct genus, under the name of Roezlia rtgia, and where the flowers were 

 falseiy described as being double the size of Polyanthes tiihernsa, and of the same 

 odour ; it is scarcely necessary for us to say that there is no necessity whatever for 

 a new genus. We regret that we cannot here give a figure which would at oiic-i set 

 the question at rest as to the flowers, by examining those of F.jlavo-viridis. 



As it invariably happens with all exotic plants which in their own countries 

 attain to a grent elevation and considerable developments, this one in our green- 

 houses is comparatively dwarf, but has nevertheless always a grand and picture.-que 

 efi'ect. Thus, with the individual which flowered with M. L. de bmet, of Ghent, 

 in 1863, the trunk or stipe was not more than twenty or thirty inches in height, and 

 this was surmounted by a superb tuft or crown of very numerous gladiate leaves, 

 less than three feet long, of a bluish, glaucous green, having an irregular and deeply- 

 furrowed surface, ruggedly granular, the edges very fine, and imperceptibly denticu- 

 lated. Their disposition, accordinjt^ to their stage of development, makes a very 

 pretty appearance ; the inferior ones are decumbent, the middle ones horizontal, 

 and the superior rising. From the centre rises a cylindrical scape, very robust, 

 more than nme feet high, clad from the base to a quarter of its lenj^th with leaves 

 and largo bracts, very distant, acuminated, and carrying a pannicle exactly 

 pyramidal, the longest ramifications (those at the base) being not less than ten to 

 fifteen inches long ; these are very numerous, horizontal, and carry innumerable 

 flowers, pendant, germinate, ternate, quarternate, or quinate, rarely solitary. 



It is a plant which will become indispensable to complete a good greenhouse 

 collection, in company with Agaves, Yucca, Dasylirium, and Beauearnea. 



