THE TUCCEAE. 31 



Before these articles by Baker and Hemsley were pub- 

 lished, living specimens had been sent to Dr. Gray, and an 

 examination of flowers which these bore in the Harvard Bo- 

 tanical Garden showed the generic distinctness of the plant 

 from Yucca, and so strong a resemblance to the true 

 Aloes of Africa that Dr. Gray did not hesitate to transfer it 

 to the genus Aloe, under the new and descriptive specific 

 name yuccaefolia. The redescription shows that the flow- 

 ers are pale red and the fruit capsular. 



Recognizing sufficient differences between this American 

 Ywcca-leaved and Twcca-fruited Aloe and the African 

 plants properly representative of that genus, Dr. Engel- 

 mann* created for it the genus Hesperaloe, in 1871, 

 noting that the leaves, pollen and seeds are those of Yucca, 

 the perigone and pistil are those of Aloe, and the filaments, 

 adnate at base and geniculate upwards, resemble those of 

 Agave. This description was repeated by Mr. Baker the 

 same year, the specific name yuccaefolia, introduced by Dr. 

 Gray, being employed in both instances. 



The original specific name proposed by Dr. Torrey was 

 restored, in combination with the generic name Hesperaloe, 

 by Professor Coulter in his account of the botany of west- 

 ern Texas, in 1894. 



Notwithstanding its beauty and unusual characters, little 

 is known of this plant in its typical form, aside from the 

 original observations of Torrey, Gray, Baker and Engel- 

 mann. The only herbarium specimens that I know 

 of were collected by Wright: in June, 1849, be- 

 tween the Nueces river and Elm creek and on the 

 banks of the latter ; apparently in the autumn of the same 

 year, on hills of Devil's river; and May 15, 1851, between 

 the Leona and Nueces. f 



* King, Eept. U. S. Geol. Explor. Fortieth Parallel. 5. Botany, by 

 Sereno Watson. 497. Referred to here as "Bot. King." 



f For the localities represented by specimens contained in the Gray 

 herbarium, I am indebted to Miss Mary A. Day. 



