[ 32 ] 



That the genus Agave has its head-quarters in the New 

 World is quite certain. Mr. W. B. Hemsley (Introduction to 

 Biolog, Centr. Amer. App. p. 272} gives the range of the true 

 Agaves as from Texas and Arizona on the North to Southern 

 Mexico, with outlying representatives. He further indicates 

 that the type diminishes as one passes out of Central into 

 S. America. 



If the group of which Agave virgin ica, Linn., is a type 

 be not made a separate genus (Manfreda Salisb.) then the 

 north-east limit of Agave would be found in the State of 

 Virginia, the most southerly record being one which may 

 be translated as " at the bottom of warm canons in the province 

 of Huanaco in Peru" (Ruiz and Paron, III, 66-67) that is 

 about nine degrees south of the Line in 75 W. Long. 



The authority of Humboldt* has been long quoted for 

 the statement that his Agave americana extends over the whole 

 of tropical America to 7,600 feet from the sea level, but the 

 student has as a rule been left to discover for (himself that 

 the Agaves which Humboldt observed abundantly in Central 

 America were always cultivated, that (as he expressly states) 

 there are several varieties in Mexico, also that the Maguey of 

 the Spanish colonies included several sorts some of which 

 (for reasons given in his text) probably belong to other 

 genera. 



All this is very clear from Humboldt's own writings, but, as the point is of 

 importance, we may add ihe testimony as to S. America of Martius (Flora 

 Brasiliensis, III. 1. p. 183) that the Agave americana was not even cultivated 

 in Brazil in his time except in gardens or about mansions (Cf. also W. B. 

 Hemsley loo, sup. cit., p. 273 for remarks on the distribution of Agave and 



Pur or sea). 



Humboldt remarks that the several varieties of the " Agave 

 americana " constitute the Maguey or Metl of the Aztec- 

 speaking peoples Metl evidently was a general term applied 

 to different Agaves (and Furcraeas) as well as to certain 

 useful plants of the Pineapple Family (Bromeliaceae). This 

 appears from Hernandez (Rer, Med. K. Hisp. Theasaums a 

 Nardo Anton. Reecho Collecta, etc., Romne 1651) Hernandez, 

 who was body physician to Philip II of Spain, had spent a 



* The most important statement is in the " JEssai Politique " and is 

 translated at some length in the letterpress to plate 3654 iu Curtis's Bqtanical 

 Magazine, Vol. XII, N. S. 1839. 



