WOOTOlSr AND STANDLEY FLORA OF NEW MEXICO. 145 



Type locality: Copper Mines, New Mexico. ' 



Range: New Mexico and Arizona, southward into Mexico. 



New Mexico: San Ignacio; Hop Canyon; Las Vegas Mountains; Mogollon Moun- 

 tains; Burro Mountains; Black Range; White and Sacramento mountains. Moun- 

 tains, in the Transition Zone. 



Order 14. AMARYLLIDALES. 



KEY TO THE FAMILIES. 



Stamens 6; leaves not 2-ranked 26. AMARYLLIDACEAE (p. 145). 



Stamens 3; leaves 2-ranked 27. IRIDACEAE (p. 147). 



26. AMARYLLIDACEAE. Amaryllis Family. 



Perennials with bulbs or corms or sometimes with fibrous roots; leaves basal; flowers 

 regular or irregular, solitary or corymbose; androecium of 6 stamens inserted on an 

 epigynous disk or at the throat of the tube opposite the sepals and petals; ovary inferior, 

 3-celled; styles united; fruit a 3-celled capsule or berry. 



KEY TO THE GENERA. 



Leaves spiny-toothed and spine-tipped; plants with elon- 

 gated caudices 1. Agave (p. 145). 



Leaves not spiny-toothed; plants with bulbs 2. Atamosco (p. 147). 



1. AGAVE L. Century plant. 



Long-lived perennials with a cluster of numerous thick fleshy basal leaves and a 

 tall flower stalk, this either nearly spicate or paniculate and with numerous thick 

 divergent branches; perianth persistent, tubular-funnelform, parted into numerous 

 narrow, nearly equal divisions; anthers linear, versatile; fruit an oblong coriaceous 

 3-celled capsule containing numerous flat black seeds. 



Agave americana is an introduced species very common in cultivation in the southern 

 part of the State. It is the common ' ' maguey " of the Mexicans, who use the sap taken 

 fromthedevelopingflower stalk for making "pulque," "mescal," and " tequila." It 

 is not cultivated far north of Las Cruces, and even here the leaves are sometimes 

 frosted in the winter and rarely the whole plant killed . 



key to the species. 



Leaves not spiny-margined, filiferous, 1 cm. broad or less, taper- 

 ing upward 1. A. schottii. 



Leaves bearing hooked spines along the margins, not fiUferous, 

 4 cm. wide or more, generally broadest about the middle. 

 Leaves few, 10 to 15, 20 to 30 cm. long, yellowish gi'een; 

 panicle with very short branches, spikelike in appear- 

 ance 2. A. lechuguilla. 



Leaves more numerous, 30 or more, 20 to 100 cm. long, deep 

 green or bluish green, glaucous; panicles with spread- 

 ing longer branches. 

 Stamens inserted near the middle of the corolla tube; 

 leaves deep green, 5 to 12 cm. wide, generally 40 



to 60 cm. long, sometimes much longer 3. A. palmeri. 



52576° — 15 10 



