128 GLASS-HOUSES 



to flower at a much earlier age than was formerly believed 

 to be the case. 



The American Aloes and Furcraeas are an important source 

 of fibre for making cordage. A strip of the flower-spike 

 makes an excellent razor strop. 



We have in the collection : 



Agave americana Agave xylacantha 



dasylirioides yuccaefolia 



,, glaucescens Furcraea elegans 



lophantha lindenii 



Victoriae Reginae longaeva 



Agave baxteri was sent to Kew by Professor Lawson, along with the 

 other succulents, of which a list is given in Appendix B. 



Related to the Aloes are the Dagger Plants, Yucca, 

 a hardy species of which has been noted on page 85 

 with the Lilies in the Herbaceous Beds. Y. filifera and a 

 variegated variety of Y. recurva are grown. Other species 

 have an economic value for cordage and paper-making. 



But perhaps the greatest treasures of the house are the 

 fine African Dracaenids, Dasylirion longifolium and lati- 

 folium, and especially D. glaucophyllum, which came to the 

 Garden as a seedling from the collection of Mr. Wilson 

 Saunders of Reigate, Surrey, about 1852, under the name 

 of Bonapartea robusta. A glaucophyllum flowered in 1911. 



At the end of the house are the succulent species of 

 Cacalia, Senecio, Echeveria, and several remarkable Crassulas, 

 as C. arborescenS) lycopodioides, rubicunda, portulacoides, and 

 perfossa, the leaves of which latter are attached so slightly 

 to the stem that they may be turned round at pleasure. 

 In 1864, 130 species of Mesembryanthemum were grown, 

 many of them Haworth's types and some the " legitimate 

 descendants " of Sherard's plants. For in his description of 

 an Oxford specimen of M. linguiforme L., var. M. latum, 

 Haworth wrote: "This ancient species was obligingly com- 

 municated to the author in 1819, from the celebrated garden 



