FURCR^A. 199 



Group of cuhrnsis. — Trunk none or short. 

 Inner leaves rigidly suberect ; marginal 



prickles larger . . . . . Sp. 2-10. 

 Inner leaves thinner and more or less 



wavy; marginal prickles smaller . Sp. 11-15. 



Subgenus Roezlia. — Leaves more flexible, 

 closely, minutely denticulate, not sx^iny on the 

 edge. Trunk produced . . , . Sp. lG-17. 



1. F. GiGANTEA Veut. lu Ust. Ann. xix. 54; Bot. Mag. t. 2250; 

 DC. PI. Grasses, t. 12G ; Wight, Ic. t. 2025. Ai/ave fietida Linn. 

 (Commel. Hort. ii. t. 18). F. fo:tida Haw. Funium idtiferum 

 Willemet. — Trunk reaching a length of 3-4 ft. Leaves 40-50 

 in a dense rosette, ensiform, 4-6 ft. long, 4-6 in. broad at the 

 middle, narrowed to 2|^-3 in. above the base, rigid, but the outer 

 recurving, bright green, channelled down to the face, narrowed 

 gradually to a pungent tip, usually without marginal spines, rarely 

 (var. WiUeiiietiana Eoem.) with a few near the base. Peduncle, 

 including inflorescence, 20-40 ft. long. Panicle about as long as 

 the peduncle ; central branches copiously compound ; pedicels 

 ^— I in. long, lower 2-3-nate. Ovary f in. long, glabrous ; seg- 

 ments greenish white, oblong, an inch long. Scent of flowers 

 strong. 



Hab. Widely spread in Troijical America and naturalised in Mauritius, 

 Madagascar, and India. Introduced, into cultivation at Harajiton Court in 1G90. 

 The leaves yield an abundant supply of excellent fibre (See Morris in Kew 

 Bulletin, iii. 8). We have a specimen in flower from Kew Gardens, dried by 

 Dr. Goodenough in November, 1793. I cannot separate definitely F, atroviridis 

 Jacobi and Goeppert, Monog. 273 ; Nachtrage, ii. UO. 



2. F. cuBENsis Haw. Syu. 73. Arjave cubensis Jacq. A. odorata 

 Pers. — Trunk very short below the rosette of leaves, 3-4 in. thick. 

 Leaves about 80 in a rosette, lanceolate, bright green, firm in 

 texture, shallowly channelled down the face, 2-2^ ft. long, 3-4 in. 

 broad above the middle, narrowed to 1^ in. above the base, 

 generally scabrous on the back, scarcely pungent at the convolute 

 brown tip, margined with large distant deltoid hooked brown 

 prickles. Peduncle b-Q ft. long, with several ascending lanceolate 

 bract-leaves. Panicle lax, rhomboid, 5-6 ft. long, 1^-2 ft. diam. ; 

 lower branches slightly compound ; pedicels short, articulated at 

 the tip, lower 2-3-nate. Ovary with short tube f in. long ; seg- 

 ments oblanceolate-oblong, an inch long, milk-white, green outside, 

 Scent faint. 



Hab. Widely spread in Tropical America, and often cultivated in the Old 

 World. Described from a plant that flowered at Kew, November, 1877. Var. 

 inermis Baker, in Bot. Mag. t. 0573, is a form with the leaves entirely destitute 

 of spines, from the collection of Mr. Wilson Saunders, that flowered at Kew in 

 November, 187'J. I cannot separate definitely F. Aitoni and vuUecuJata Jacobi, 

 Nacht. 59 — 60. F. Lindeni Jacobi in 111. Hort, n, s., t. 18(3, differs mainly by 

 its handsomely variegated leaves. For an elaborate account of its pre-Linnean 

 synonymy see Martins in Fl. Bras. iii. 188. 



3. F. TUBEEOSA " Ait. " ; Jacobi, Monogr. 276 ; Hassk. Eetz. ii. 16. 

 A<jave tiibcrvm " Miher " ; Salmdyck, Hort. Dyck. 302.— Trunk 



