SPECIES AND VARIETIES 



papers have appeared : (1) A Note on Agave and Furcroea by Drummond and 



I Vain, ami (-) Xixul flnnp Culture by Mann and Hunter. The former tackled 

 in mi ahln maun.-!- tlic much disputed botanical origin of the commercial plants 

 .iii.l tli.' l.itt.-r KiM's useful details of an Indian plantation. Before dealing with 

 th.. pra.tir.il issues it may be advantageous to exhibit in this place the botanical 

 opinions. 



Species and Varieties. The necessity for a complete revision of the species 

 of this p-nns. m.irn especially the cultivated forms, has long been felt HH 

 MTV uMirnt. Much has been done by systematic botanists for the wild forms 

 in th.'ir nutive hiiliitiits, but much still requires to be accomplished before 

 \\<- possess the accurate knowledge essential to industrial progress. Cultivators 

 hiiM> not always gone to botanists to secure their original supplies. There havr 

 in consequence been carried here and there throughout the tropics a multiplicity 

 of ton us. some at least of which in their now homes seem to have made confusion 

 confounded by modifying the colour, shape and spinosity of their leaves until 

 they have greatly obscured their botanical characteristics. And these have also 

 brought with them incorrect or even quasi-scientific names that have passed 

 unchallenged for many years. Hence it is no matter for surprise that the Agntu- 

 inrtiin of one high authority is not the .!?/ inrian of "certain practical 

 mm." The blame for this state of affairs cannot, however, be cast at the one or 

 the other : errors and misconceptions are unavoidable in the early stages of most 

 discoveries. The necessity for a common basis of knowledge is now, however, 

 the more urgently demanded. Drummond and Prain (I.e. Agri. Ledg., 1906, 

 No. 7) have taken a most valuable step in the direction of the elimination of 

 ambiguity. They have reduced the Indian cultivated and acclimatised forms 

 to some ten species, and of these five or six are of industrial merit. It would 

 be presumptuous for any one who has not specially studied this perplexing 

 genus to venture on a critical review of the conclusions arrived at by these dis- 

 tinguished botanists. I shall accordingly content myself with an effort to 

 transcribe into one place what appears to me of special value to practical men, 

 and in so doing endeavour to focus my abstract alphabetically under the 

 scientific names given in the Notes for the chief forms : 



Agave americana, Linn.. Sp. PI., 1753, i., 323. This plant (to which alone 

 that trivial name should be restricted) exists in India as an ornamental 

 garden plant only. It is extremely constant in its characteristics, and except 

 as horticultural sports (in which the leaves become parti-coloured) it has no 

 authentic varieties. Although a fibre can be and has been extracted from its 

 leaves, this plant is of no value as a textile and does not exist anywhere in 

 India in such abundance as to be of importance. The cultivated stock pro- 

 bably originated in the West Indies. [Cf. Drummond and Prain, I.e. 84-5, 

 121-2, 126, 136, 151.] 



A. Cantala, Roxb. , A. vivipara, Dalz. & Qiba. (non Linn.), Fl. Bomb, (suppl.), 

 1861, 93. This would appear (as indicated above) to have been the species 

 that first reached India. It had taken such a firm hold of the country by 

 1804 that Roxburgh, when led to suppose that it had a Sanskrit name, was 

 induced to regard the plant as indigenous. It is common in hedges and one of 

 the two species most widely spread and most plentiful in India. Frequent near 

 Bombay, in the northern portions of Madras Presidency, in Central India, 

 and in the Gangetic plain generally, as far north as the sub-mountain districts 

 of the provinces of Agra and the Parijab, ascending the hills to close on 6,000 

 feet, but is absent from the arid strip between Gwalior and Delhi. Fibre is 

 extracted from its leaves in considerable quantity, but opinions on its quality 

 are conflicting. It is the chief source of the Bombay Aloe Fibre of commerce. 

 [Cf. Drummond and Prain, I.e. 87-8, 100, 105, 133-4, 135, 138-9, etc.] 



A. sp. (? A. elongata, Jacob.). Drummond and Prain (I.e. 88, 101, 105, etc.) 

 show that the plant hero indicated cannot be identified as .4. in extra na, Lamh. 

 Further they observe that it approaches .4. ni mil nun and is intermediate 

 between that and -4. r>i/i. It seems very close to the species cultivated at 

 Kew as -4. -i/;/. var. fiongata. It has been met with in the Upper Gangetic 

 plain, as for instance at Dehra Dun and the Panjab Siwaliks ; it is somewhat 

 extensively planted along railways in N.W. India, and is the most prevalent 

 form in the dry arid tract from Gwalior to Delhi, being there, as it were, obtruded 

 into the area of A. < nntiti,i. The fibre has not been sufficiently investigated, 

 but it seems good and would probably be found valuable. The plant has beep 

 grown on a marketable scale in the dry tract between the Chambal and the Jumna. 



33 3 



AGAVE 



Species and 

 Varieties 



Species. 



ROWM "f 



\ml.i_' i ty. 



Industrial 

 Forma. 



The 



Horticultural 



Agave. 



Bombay Aloe 

 Fibre. 



The Agave of the 



I'], per <;.iiii.'.-t!>- 

 Basin. 



