149. AMABYLLIDACE.E. 



b. Leaves narrow. Perianth lobes narrow or fili- 

 form : — 

 Ovules many superposed . . . .4. Pancratium. 



Ovules 2 ascending from the base . . .5. Eymenocallis. 

 B. Leaves usually phcate and petioled, from a oorm or 

 slender tuberous rhizome. Scape very short, 

 sometimes subterranean. Fls. usually yellow, not 

 large, solitary racemed or capitate : — 

 Hypauthium produced into a beak above the ovary. 



Stigmas erect appressed. Fruit indehiscent . . 6. Curculigo. 

 Hypanthium not produced into a beak. Stigmas 

 erect stout distinct or connate into an oblong mass. 

 Frt. circumsciss ...... 7. Hypozis. 



1. AGAVE, L. 



Stout shrubby rhizomatous plants with a short aerial stem more or 

 less concealed by the leal-bases, and with thick fleshy spine-tipped and 

 often spinosely toothed rigid leaves, Hypanthium produced into a 

 short stout beak above the ovary. Perianth more or less funnel- 

 shaped or campanulate with the tube short or very short, rarely 

 elongated, lobes linear, erect or spreading. Stamens inserted at the 

 base of the tepals and considerably longer than these with filaments 

 filiform or flattened at the base, anthers large linear, fixed by the 

 middle of the back. Ovary often fleshy 3-locular, style filiform above 

 the short conical base. Ovules very numerous in each cell. Fruit 

 an ovoid globose or cylindrical coriaceous erect beaked capsule, 

 crowned at first by the sub-persistent perianth, loculicidally dehiscent 

 at the apex. Seeds numerous, flattened, closely superposed with 

 black testa. 



The inflorescence varies much in the different sections and is either 

 spicate with flowers sessile or shortly pedicelled, solitary in the bracts 

 or 2 or more in each bract, or the inflorescence is panicled, the flowers 

 closely aggregated in peduncled erect cymes on the spreading branches 

 of a gigantic scape (" pole " of growers). The genus is entirely 

 American. 



The Agaves are usually propagated by bulbils which are often 

 formed in place of or in addition to the fruits. 



The following descriptions are mainly taken from " Notes on Agave and Farcrcea 

 in India," by J. R. Druinnwnd and D. Praia {Agricultural Dept. Bulletin, No, 7 ; 

 1906). 



I. Leaves over 3 ft. in length, in a lax rosette or tu fted : — 

 A. Perianth segments not constricted towards the tip : — 



1. L. broadest in the middle, tapering to both extremities : — 



L. oblong-lanceolate, neck sharply cojistricted . . 1. americana. 



L. linear-oblong, neck not constricted . . .2. vera-cruz. 



2. Leaves hnear-lanceolate, hardly widened in the middle . 3. cantula. 

 B. Perianth segments narrowed from about the middle to a 



Ugulate tip : — 

 L. straight and narrow, often spineless . . . .4. sisalana. 



JI. Leaves never exceeding 3 it., in a close globose rosette . , 5, Wightii. 



1. A. americana, L. 



Leaves very stout, commonly variegated yellow, sharply constricted 

 into a neck just above the very swollen bases, margin distinctly 



1104 



