380 NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Blooming Agave. 
There has been in bloom at the Apothecaries’ Garden, Chelsea, an 
interesting species of Agave, which appears to be the 4. Mexicana of 
Haworth. The general aspect of this plant before it gave evidence of 
flowering was not dissimilar to that of 4. Americana ; but in its flow- 
ering state it proves quite different from that species, especially in the 
arrangement of its inflorescence, which, instead of forming a pyramidal 
head, with horizontal branches, has the branches ascending and form- 
ing a dense head, which becomes thicker and broader upwards. 
There seems little doubt that this plant has been reared, and probably 
from its very infancy, in this garden ; and it is therefore to be regret- 
ted that no record of its origin, nor any historical particulars respecting 
it, appear to have been preserved. Under these circumstances, it is 
impossible to form even a conjecture as to the age of the plant. But 
considering that it has naturally a somewhat less massive appearance 
than the common Agave, it would appear to be a full-sized specimen, 
the spread of its leaves being about seven feet, their height four feet, 
and the height of the flowering stem, measuring from the base of the 
plant, nineteen feet six inches. This stem has twenty-four branches, and 
these are again subdivided into eight secondary branches, terminate 
each by a cluster of flowers; the numbers of flowers may be estimated 
at about 4,000; thus, 21 X 8 X 24—4032.--Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Tue Niger FLORA ; or, an Enumeration of the Plants of WESTERN 
edi AFRICA, collected by the late Da. TREODORE VOGEL, and 
including * wag Gorgonea, by P. B. WEBB, Ese., and * Flora 
Nigritiana,’ by . HOOKER and GzoneEg BENTHAM, Esa. ; 
with a sketch of ce life of Dr. Vogel, edited by Six W. J. HOOKER ; 
with two views, a map, and fifty botanical plates. One vol. 8vo. 
Bailliére, 1849. 
The plants here described are mainly from the collection made 
by Dr. Vogel, while attached as botanist to the expedition sent by 
Her Britannic Majesty to the River Niger, in 1841, under the com- 
mand of Captain H. D. Trotter, R.N., &e., &c.,' to whom the work 
