STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 107 



Costa Rica (type from San Ramon) and Panama. 



Nearly acaulescent, the leaves transiently somewhat glaucous, broad, long 

 and openly concave, straight-margined between the rather long and distant 

 yellowish teeth, these with brown or chestnut tips. " Cabuya," " cabuya con 

 espina," or " Central American sisal." 



9a. Furcraea cabuya Integra Trel. Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg II. Suppl. 3: 

 907. 1910. 



Furcraea gigantea Seem. Bot. Voy. Herald 216. 1854. 



Costa Rica (type from San Ramon) and Panama; also (?) in Honduras and 

 El Salvador. 



Differs from the type only in having its leaves unarmed or with merely 

 minute rudiments of teeth. " Cabuya Olancho," transmuted into " cabuya 

 blanca." 



2. AGAVE L. Sp. PI. 323. 1753. 



References : J. -G. Baker, Handbook of the Amaryllideae 163-198. 1888 ; 

 Mulford, A study of the agaves of the United States, Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 7: 

 48-100. pi. 26-63. 1896; Trelease, Agave maeroacantha and related euagaves, 

 Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 18: 231-256. pi. 18-31,. 1907; Trelease, The Mexican fiber 

 agaves known as zapupe, Trans. Acad. St. Louis 18: 29-37. pi. 1-6. 1909 ; Tre- 

 lease, The agaves of Lower California, Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 22: 37-65. pi. 18-72. 

 1912 ; Trelease, Revision of the agaves of the group Applmmtae, Rep. Mo. Bot. 

 Gard. 22: 85-97. pi. 13-99. 1912; Trelease & Ludwig, El Zapupe, pp. 1-29. ill. 

 1909; Trelease, Agave, in Bailey, Stand. Cycl. Hort. 1: 230-239. 1914. 



The leaves contain an excellent fiber. That of A. americana, which is much 

 planted and has escaped around the Mediterranean, is used in the dainty pita 

 lacework of the Azores, etc. Much of the fiber of the leclniguilla type of plants 

 is used for coarse sacking or enters into the complex of ixtle or Tampico fiber 

 or Matamoros fiber. Agave cantala is grown extensively in tropical Asia for 

 its fiber. Of recent years the zapupes have been exploited as equally worthy 

 with the henequen or Sisal hemp, which forms the chief basis of Yucatecan 

 commerce and is being extensively planted through tropical regions. The 

 national drink of the Mexican Indians is fermented from the exuded sap of 

 the large fleshy-leaved or maguey species when they are ready to bloom, and 

 great plantations are maintained for this purpose on the table-land ; and a 

 great deal of distilled liquor, called mezcal, like the smaller-leaved species used 

 for the purpose, is distilled from a fermented mash made from the roasted 

 stems of many species, especially those of the group Tequilanae, which are 

 grown in large numbers for this purpose, particularly about Tequila in the 

 State of Jalisco. The glucoside saponin occurs in many species and is very 

 abundant in the rootstocks of a few agaves and particularly in those of the 

 related herbaceous genus Manfreda, and these are used for washing under the 

 name " amole." The fiber of the leaves was used in preconquest days for mak- 

 ing a kind of papei*, upon which manuscripts were written. 



The species of Agave are known in the United States as century plants. This 

 name was given because of a belief that the plants flowered only when they had 

 attained an age of a hundred years. This belief is, of course, incorrect. It is 

 probably due to the fact that in cultivation the plants rarely bloom. In Europe 

 the plants are often known as American aloes, becaiise of a slight resemblance 

 to Old World plants of the genus Aloe, of the family Liliaceae. 



126651—20 8 



