AGAPANTHUS 



AGAVE 



33 



and white-fld.) ,with scape 4 ft. high ; double-fld. variety ; 

 variegated-lvd. varieties, as var. aureus and var. varie- 

 gatus ; var. Leichtlinii, a compact-trussed blue form ; 

 and others. L. H. B. 



AGARICUS. A genus of fleshy fungi, considered under 



AGATH.32A. See Felicia. 



A.GA.THIS(afjat1iis, glome; the fls. in clusters). Tender 

 Australian conifers, allied to Araucaria, yielding Dam- 

 mar resin. Cones axillary, globular or short. 



robiista, Hook. (Ddmmara robusta, C. Moore). 

 Branches somewhat verticillate, horizontal : Ivs. broad, 

 oval-lanceolate, obtuse : tree reaching 130 feet in Austral. 

 -Cult, in Calif. 



45. Agave Americana, as commonly grown in greenhouses. 



AGAVE (Greek, agauas, admirable). Amaryllidacece. 

 Important decorative and economic plants from hot 

 American deserts, the most familiar of which is A. 

 Americana, the AMERICAN CENTURY PLANT. St. short 

 or wanting : Ivs. mostly in a close rosette, mostly stiff 

 and more or less fleshy, persisting from year to year, the 

 margins mostly armed with teeth and the apex tipped 

 with a more or less pungent spine : fls. in spikes or 

 panicles ; perianth 6-parted, more or less funnel-shaped ; 

 stamens 6, mostly long-exserted ; style 1 ; ovary infe- 

 rior, 3-celled ; seeds numerous, flat, thin, triangular, 

 black. Some species flower but once and die, others oc- 

 casionally, while others flower from year to year. The 

 number of species is about 150, although more than 325 

 have been described. One of the largest collections is 

 at Kew, where there are 85 named species. The largest 

 collections in the United States are at the Botanical 

 Garden of Washington and the Missouri Botanical Gar- 

 den, where there are about 75 species each. Amateurs 

 often cultivate a greater number of species than are de- 

 scribed in this account. Agaves are essentially fanciers' 

 or amateurs' plants. This noble group of plants has 

 never received the attention it deserves, and yet no ge- 

 nus of plants in America furnishes so many suitable 

 decorative plants. Sir Joseph Hooker places it next to 

 the palm and aloe, but the former is a great family of 

 1,100 species. While in the United States we think of 

 the Agaves only as decorative plants, yet in Mexico, 

 their native home, they are the most useful of plants. 

 Many species furnish fiber, others soap, while still 

 others produce the two great Mexican drinks, Pulque 

 and Mescal. Pulque, which is a fermented drink, is ob- 

 tained from several species, especially A. atrovirens. 

 Mescal, which is a distilled drink, is usually not ob- 

 tained from the same species as Pulque, although there 

 is a general belief to the contrary. The species from 

 which is made most of the Mescal used in Mexico is 

 unknown. The species vary so much in size and form 

 that they can be used in a great many ways. Some of 

 the smaller species are suitable for the house, and even 

 some of the larger species are so used. The larger spe- 

 cies are well adapted for vases in large gardens and 

 grounds, along walks, terraces, etc. These plants, com- 

 ing, as they do, from arid or even desert regions, where 



they have a hard struggle to exist, can be grown with 

 little or no care, but they respond very quickly to good 

 treatment. The species are propagated in various ways ;' 

 some produce suckers at the base or even underground 

 shoots ; others give off buds from the stem, which fall 

 off and take root, or may be detached and planted ; 

 while not a few produce bulblets in the flower-clusters, 

 and sometimes in great abundance, while all may be 

 produced from seed. But as most of the species flower 

 only after a long interval, and many have not yet been 

 known to flower in cultivation, th'is latter means of 

 propagation can not be relied upon. In cultivation, 

 fruit is set very sparingly or not at all without artificial 

 pollination, although this can be accomplished with 

 very little trouble. Monograph by J. G. Baker, Ama- 

 ryllidese, 1888. J. N. ROSE. 



None of the Agaves are at all difficult to grow. The 

 soil should be principally loam and sand, and if any vege- 

 table soil be given it should be in small quantities. Good 

 drainage and firm potting are necessary. To grow small 

 plants of the large-leaved kinds into good-sized specimens 

 quickly, they should be plunged out in a sunny spot in 

 spring, taking care that the pots are large enough so that 

 they will not require repotting in the fall. Nearly all of 

 the large-growing kinds are easily increased from suck- 

 ers, which, when the plants are grown in a pot-bound con- 

 dition, are produced very readily. They should 'only be 

 taken off from the parent plant when furnished with suf- 

 ficient roots to give them a start. Some kinds are raised 

 only from seeds,which, when freshly gathered, germinate 

 in a few weeks. Cult, by G. W. OLIVER. 



The classification of the Agaves is a very difficult one. 

 This is partially owing to the great number of species, 

 to the difficulty of preserving study material, and to the 

 infrequency of flowering in many spe- 

 cies. In fact, many species have never 

 been known to flower. The most 

 usable characters for classification 

 are to be found in the leaves, and, 

 although such an arrangement is 

 more or less artificial, it is certainly 

 the most satisfactory in naming a 

 collection. From a botanical point 

 of view, however, the inflorescence 

 shows the true relationship of the 

 species. In this way the genus is 

 usually divided into three groups or 

 subgenera. These are : First, the 

 Euagave, having a paniculate in- 

 florescence, with candelabra - like 

 branches. Second, the Z/ittcea, hav- 

 ing a dense spike of flowers. (The 

 section Littoea has been considered 

 by some a good genus, but it seems 

 to connect with the first section 

 through certain species.) The third 

 section, Manfreda, is very different 

 from the above, and is considered by 

 the writer as a distinct generic type, 

 although treated here in accordance 

 with general usage. Manfredas are 

 all herbaceous, appearing each year 

 from a bulbous base, the Ivs. 

 are soft and weak, dying down 

 annually, while the inflores- 

 cence is a slender open spike, 

 with solitary fls. from the axils 

 of bracts. 



The following Agaves are 

 here described : albicans, No. 

 30 ; Americana, 1 ; Amuren- 

 sis, 27 ; angustifolia, 3 ; ap- 

 planata, 7 ; atrovirens, 5; at- 

 tenuata, 19 ; Beaucarnei, 28 ; 

 Botteri, 29 ; brachystachys, 

 40 ; Candelabrum, 3 ; Celsii, 



31 ; coarctata, 5; cochlearis, 6; dasylirioides, 36 ; densi- 

 flora, 32; Deserti, 10; echinoides, 34 ; Elemeetiana, 20 ; 

 ensiformis, 34 ; fllifera, 13 ; geminiflora, 16 ; Gilbeyi, 

 26 ; glaucescens, 19 ; heteracantha, 22 ; horrida, 26 ; 

 ixtliotdes,3 ; Kerchovei, 28 ; Kochii, 27 ; latissima, 5 ; 

 Lecheguilla, 23; Lehmanni, 5 ; macracantha. 8 ; macu- 



Agave Americana in 

 flower. 



