2528 



that, where he found 

 the plant, the ground 

 was covered with snow 

 and ice ; so that there 

 can be no doubt of its 

 being hardy in the cli- 

 mate of London. It is 

 of such remarkably slow 

 growth in its native ha- 

 bitats, that the inhabi- 

 tants say it flowers only 

 once in 400 years. Fig. 

 2402., reduced from Ba- 

 ron Karwinski's plate to 

 a scale 1 in. to 12 ft., 

 shows the general ap- 

 pearance of the full- 

 grown plant, with its 

 noble spike of flowers. 

 Fig. 2401. shows the 

 flowers of the natural 

 size. Only seven plants ,^^ 

 were introduced, one of ^'§-''& 

 which was purchased by #|' 

 the Duke of Devonshire, ^'" 

 and the rest sold to 

 Messrs. Loddiges. Price 

 five guineas each. 



F^ gigantea Vent., 

 Bot. Mag., t. 2250., is 

 an agave-like plant, 

 with leaves 7 ft. long, 

 and a flower -stem 30 ft. 

 high ; a native of South 

 America : introduced in 

 1690. It flowered in 

 1821, at the Earl of 

 Powis's seat at Wallcot, 

 Shropshire. 



Littce^st. gemmiflora 

 Brig. ; AgaVe gemmi- 

 fl6ra AVr; Bonapartea 

 juncea Haw., Hort. 

 Journ. Roy. Inst., iii. 

 t. 1.; and our/g. 2403.; 

 is a native of Peru, in- 

 troduced in 1800; and, 

 though commonly kept 

 in the green-house, it is 

 probably as hardy as 

 some kinds of Yucca. 

 The plant of which our 

 figure is a portrait, with 

 a single flower of the 

 natural size, flowered in 

 the conservatory of 

 Knight's Exotic Nur- 

 sery, King's Road, in 

 1826. The flower-stem 

 first appeared about the 



ARBORETUJM 



FAKT III- 



