AGAVK. 168 



segments ; filaments filiform, thicker downwards ; anthers oblong 

 or linear-oblong, erect, basifixed. Ovary clavate or cylindrical, 

 8-celled ; ovules many, superposed ; style elongated, trisulcate ; 

 stigma capitate. Capsule turbinate, with a woody endocarp, loculi- 

 cidally 3-valved. Seeds flattened, reniform, with a brown testa. — 

 Rootstock none. Leaves ensiform, forming a dense basal rosette. 

 Stem with thyrsoid or congested inflorescence attaining a height of 

 20 ft. or more. Stem-leaves much reduced. Floivers large, bright 

 red, often replaced by bulbillse, as in Furcrcea. — A very curious 

 and distinct genus, and all the other Agavece are American. 



1. D. EXCELSA Correa in Trans. Linn. Soc. vi. 213, t. 28-24 ; 

 Bauer, Illust. t. 13-15 ; Bot. Mag. t. 1685 ; Kegel, Gartenfl. 

 t. 421 ; Flore des Serres, t. 1912. — Leaves 50-100 in a rosette, 

 ensiform, falcate, 5-6 ft. long, 3-4 in. broad at the middle, narrowed 

 gradually to a winged petiole an inch broad, with a cylindrical 

 point 2-3 in. long. Stem 10-20 ft. long, with numerous ascending 

 bract-leaves. Inflorescence a terminal capitulum a foot in diam. ; 

 final bracts oblong-lanceolate, subcoriaceous, bright red, 8 in. long. 

 Ovary cylindrical-triquetrous, li in. long ; segments linear, 2^-3 in. 

 long. Stamens nearly as long as the segments ; anthers linear, an 

 inch long. 



Hab. New South Wales. First properly flowered in cultivation by the 

 Eight Hon. C. Long in 1815. 



2. D. Palmeki W. Hill; Benth. Fl. Austral, vi. 452; Hook. fil. 

 in Bot. Mag. t. 6665; Gard. Chron. 1874, t. 44-45; Flore des 

 Serres, t. 2097-8. — Leaves 100 or more, ensiform, strongly ribbed, 

 6-8 ft. long, 4-6 in. broad, narrowed dow^nwards to a winged 

 petiole an inch broad and furnished with a cylindrical point 4-6 in. 

 long. Peduncle 6-10 ft. long, with copious short ascending leaves. 

 Inflorescence a dense thyrsoid panicle 3 ft. long ; final bracts 

 ovate, bright red, 2 in. long. Ovary clavate, li in. long ; segments 

 lanceolate, not longer than the ovary. Stamens a little shorter 

 than the segments ; anthers linear-oblong, i in. long. 



Hab. Queensland. Flowered at Brisbane, 1870 ; at Kew, April, 1882. 

 Mr. Charles Moore, of the Sydney Botanic Garden, sends photographs of two 

 marked varieties, one with a compact inflorescence and long leaves, the other 

 with a laxer panicle and shorter leaves. 



60. Agave Linnr' 



Perianth funnel-shaped ; tube short ; segments subequal, ob- 

 lanceolate, falcate. Stamens inserted at or below the throat of the 

 tube ; filaments filiform, generally much longer than the segments; 



* Reprinted, with alterations, from the ' Gardeners' Chronicle ' in 1877. 

 The paper was translated into Italian by Baron Eicasoli, and appeared, with 

 the original woodcuts, in vol. iv. (1879) of the ' Eeport of the Tuscan Horti- 

 cultural Society.' For fuller details see Jacobi's elaborate Monograph, which 

 originally appeared in the ' Hamburg Gartenzeitung,' 1864 — 1867, and its two 

 Nachtrages ; Engelmaun's paper in vol. iii. of the ' Transactions of the Academy 

 of Science of St. Louis'; Salmdyck in ' Hortus Dyckianus,' 1834, and Bon- 

 plandia, 1859,' pp. 85—96 ; K. Koch in ' Wochenschrift,' 1869 ; Todaro's recent 



M 2 



