LILY FAMILY. 451 



i' long ; segments with a greenish spot on the point ; leaves narrow and 

 flat, all radical. S. Eu.; the only species. 



48. AIiOE. (Name from the Arabic.) A large and difficult genus of 

 succulent mostly S. African plants. Probably the commonest is 



A. variegdfa, Linn. Leaves ascending and lanceolate, 4'-5' long, con- 

 cave above and keeled below, denticulate, green spotted with gray and 

 margmed with white ; flowers 1^' long, reddish, in a simple loose raceme 

 3'-4' long ; scape 1° or less high. 



49. YUCCA, BEAR GRASS, SPANISH BAYONET. (American 

 aboriginal name.) Cult, for ornament, but only the nearly stemless 

 species is really hardy N. Flowers summer, large ; and whole plant ol 

 striking appearance. The common ones, under various names and 

 varieties, mainly belong to the following : 



» Trunk short, covered with leaves, rising only a foot or ttco above the 

 ground ' flowering stalk scape-like ; pod dry. 



T. filament6sa, Pursh. Common Bear Grass, or Adam's Needle. 

 From Md. S. ; leaves lanceolate, l°-2° long, spreading, moderately rigid, 

 tipped with a weak prickly point, the smooth edges bearing thread-like 

 filaments ; scape 3°-6° high ; flowers white or pale cream-color, some- 

 times tinged purplish. 



Y. angustifdlia, Pursh, Smaller, with erect and narrow linear leaves, 

 few threads on their white margins, and yellowish-white flowers. 

 S. Dak., S. 



♦ * Trunk arborescent, 2°-8° high in wild plants on the sands of the coast 

 8. , or much higher in conservatories, naked below ; no threads to the 

 leaves. 



Y. glori6sa, Linn. Trunk low, generally simple ; leaves coriaceous, 

 smooth-edged, slender-spiny tipped, l°-2° long, I'-IJ' wide ; flowers white, 

 or purplish-tinged outside, in a short-peduncled panicle. N. Car., S. 



Y. aloif6lia, Linn. Spanish Bayonet. Trunk 4°-20° high, branch- 

 ing when old ; leaves very rigid, strongly spiny-tipped, with very rough- 

 serrulate, saw-like edges, 2° or more long, lJ'-2' wide ; the short panicle 

 nearly sessile. N. Car. S. 



50. CORDYLINE. (Greek : club, referring to the shape of the roots 

 in some species.) Various species in choice conservatories, commonly 

 known as Drac^nas, cultivated for the foliage, which is often handv 

 somely colored. 



C. indivlsa, Steud. Leaves 2°-4° long, and only an inch or two broad, 

 long-tapering, curving, dark green. New Zealand. 



C. austraiis, Hook. f. Hardier ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, 2°-3° long 

 and 2'-4' broad, prominently striate. New Zealand. 



C. Bdnksii, Hook. f. Stem trunk-like and becoming several feet high ; 

 leaves long-lanceolate (4°-6° long), finely striate, with several prominent 

 veins or ribs ; fiowers white. New Zealand ; an excellent species, but not 

 yet very common. 



C. termina/is, Kunth. The commonest one in cultivation, from tropical 

 Asia ; leaves l°-2° long, lanceolate and coriaceous, narrowed to both 

 ends, green, bronze or crimson, clustered near the ends of the branches 

 or the top of the trunk (the latter ordinarily 4° or less high) ; flowers 

 in branched panicles. Parent of most garden Drac^nas. C. cannje- 

 roLiA is a form of this. 



