132 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL, HERBARIUM. 



112. Agave abrupta Trel., sp. nov. 



Leaves straight or somewhat upcurved, 15 to 30 cm. wide, 1.50 to 175 cm. long, 

 very glaucous, very concave and deeply plicate toward the abrupt end, with 

 heavy, conical, .somewhat recurved spine 8 mm. wide and 25 mm. long, and 

 small, variously curved, triangular teeth 15 to 30 or 40 mm. apart and only 

 about 2 mm. long, but from conspicuous fleshy or horny prominences; inflores- 

 cence 7 to 8 meters tall. 



.Jalisco ; type, in the herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden, from La 

 Barca, Trelease, in 1901 ; cultivated in hedges. 



113. Agave wercklei Weber, sp. nov. 



Acaulescent; leaves glaucous, bluish or white, abruptly upcurved above the 

 base, 15 cm. wide, 125 to 200 cm. long, with somewhat recurved, grooved, conical, 

 brown or gray spine 4 to 6 mm. wide and 25 to 35 mm. long, and triangular 

 straight brown teeth 15 to 25 mm. apart and 3 mm. long, these sometimes on 

 fleshy prominences or with the intervening margin hollowed ; inflorescence 8 

 meters tall ; flowers chrome-yellow, pumpkin-scented, 60 mm. long, the perianth 

 segments twice as long as the tube; capsules 15 mm. broad and 45 mm. long; 

 seeds 4 mm. wide and 6 mm. long ; bulbiferous. 



Costa Rica ; type, in the herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden, culti- 

 vated at San Jose, Alfaro d Tonduz 17553. 



Sometimes cultivated under the name of A. costaricensis. 



114. Agave expansa Jacobi, Abh. Schles. Ges. Vaterl. Cult. 1868: 151. 1868. 

 Region ? ; type cultivated iia Europe. 



Leaves gi'ay, oblong, uniformly spreading, straight, acute, concave, about 

 20 cm. wide and 200 cm. long, with brown or gray, straight or slightly recurved, 

 grooved spine 8 to 10 mm. wide and 25 to 30 mm. long, this a,cutely pointed 

 from the very base, and with heavily triangular teeth 30 to 60 mm. apart and 

 5 to 8 mm. long, these with dilated bases, often from fleshy hummocks. 



Extensively planted in southern Arizona (Tucson) and California (Los 

 Angeles) as A. americana, from which its unreflexed leaves and more acutely 

 pointed, somewhat prismatic spine distinguish it. 



115. Agave americana L. Sp. PI. 323. 1753. 



Native ? ; type cultivated in Europe, probably originally from a Mexican 

 hedge-row ; established freely about the Mediterranean. 



Leaves gray, acute, outcurved or reflexed at end, 15 to 20 cm. wide, 200 to 

 250 cm. long, with brown, somewhat curved, conical spine 5 mm. w'ide and 

 25 mm. long, and triangular, more or less recurved teeth 15 to 50 mm. apart 

 and about 5 mm. long, on fleshy* prominences. 



It is this plant, cultivated in the Azores, etc., from which the " pita " used 

 in the drawn work of those islands is procured. Early records of the economic 

 uses of "Agave americana" and "A. mexicana" commonly refer to other species, 

 such as A. fourcroydes and A. atrovirens. 



116. Agave picta Salm-Dyck, Bonplandia 7: 88. 1859. 

 Native ? ; type cultivated in Europe. 



Equally large and very similar, the darker and clearer green leaves 17 to 

 IS cm. wide, 225 cm. long, with a marginal band of yellow (as in one form, 

 var. marginata, of the preceding), the spine straight and needle-shaped. 

 " Maguey pinto," " maguey listado." 



Much planted. On the Mediterranean coast seedlings are said to be invari- 

 ably green (var. viridis Trel. in Bailey, Stand. Cycl. Hort. 1: 235. 1914; A. 

 ingens Berger, Hort. Mortolensis. 12, 360. 1912), and no doubt correspond to 

 the normal type of foliage. 



