A SOUTHWESTERN PLANT GROUP. 



789 



Aztec, as the descendants of an American flora whose traces are 

 lost in far-off geologic ages, even as the forefathers of the Aztec 

 are shrouded in the mist of prehistoric centuries. In truth, there 

 seems a striking fitness in associating these odd monarchs of the 

 soil with the barbaric majesty of the empire of Montezuma; a 

 John Ruskin might say, the cactus typified the Aztec's sturdy, 

 unwithering energy and stoic cruelty ; the agave, his lofty noble- 

 ness of mind ; and the yucca, the passionate beauty of his nature. 

 But let the sentiment stand the Aztec has passed away, and yet 



FIG. 3. AGAVE BED. Tree Agave on the Right. 



this plant group still holds its own over the rocky hills and moun- 

 tain sides and barren plateaus, withstanding drought and burning 

 sun, and thriving in the arid sand wastes. And out from their 

 native region many representatives have found their way south- 

 ward, over into the West Indies, down through Central America, 

 still further to the northern Andes, and almost to the Amazon ; 

 and others, though fewer, have come up into our Western plains 

 and mountains, scattered over the Mississippi Valley, and passed 

 through the Gulf States and far up the Atlantic coast. Thus 

 eastward and northward from Texas we can count perhaps a 

 dozen cacti, several yuccas, and one or two agaves, all luxuriating 



