L 



Agaveae (also certain other fibre plants) or to their products 



Bulletin, 



EEMAEKS 



A variant of Maguey. It' this represents the actual sound, the 

 original is possibly ' Ma-qui/ and the second syllable Qui, Qvil 

 (q.v.) 



' Kattalay Nar' from Travancore at the same exhibition was appar- 

 ently Sansevieria, in which case the same local name would cover 

 Aloe, Agave, and Sansevieria; but perhaps there has been a mistake 

 in ticketing. 



This (Marul) is the correct transliteration. 



11, 71, Cf, the preceding and Marool also. 



4-6 Applied in the U. S. A. to the scape or 'pole' of Euagav* and 

 Furcraea. 



18-19 It is usual to ascribe this commercial fibre to Furcraea gigantea 

 Vent., but the plants grown in S. India do not always, or even 

 ordinarily,! answer to that species as defined by Mr. Baker. From 

 the authority quoted by us it is clear that several species of Agave 

 and Furcraea, to say nothing of Sansevieria, have run wild in the 

 Mauritius, while the "Mauritius Hemp" that comes from St. 

 Helena is not perhaps from a Furcraea at all, but from the St. 

 Helena Agave, (A. augustifolia of the Buitenzorg Garden) 

 which may be Agave (E) i.e., Roxburgh's Agave = A. Cantala of 

 this Bulletin. Wight's S. Indian Furcraea (see Part I, p. 19) 

 and Cajun above, also the ' Agave viridis ' of Madras Exhibition 

 Catalogues are perhaps Furcraea calensis Ait. which is said to 

 be the best fibre Agavea of the West India Islands. Different 

 Furcraeas thrive throughout the moister parts of India, and the 

 fibre is being brought into use in N. India also. Certain of the 

 species tend like Agave (G.) (Sisal), and the Honduras Silk Grass 

 plant fsee Istle (1) and (2) and Sillc Q-rass~] to lose the side- 

 thorns (prickles) of the leaf in cultivation. The true Agave foetida 

 of Linnaeus grows in the Sibpur Garden, but we doubt its identity 

 with the Mauritius Hemp plant of S. India. It seems to be 

 common along the coasts of the Isthmus and the Orinoco region 

 where it yields 'Cobblers thread.' See Aloes Vert, Cabuya, 

 Hayti Hemp, Ptte d 'Haiti, Piet, Pita de Zapateros, &c. 



1 The Sansevieria fibre or Bowstring Hemp of Roxburgh (to be 

 distinguished from the Marsdenia or Jiti bast, said to be the 

 ' Murnvu Dul' of Ceylon). The name of the plant as distinguished 

 from the fibre was ' Murva ' which survives in the Bengali Murva 

 or ' Moarla ' (Bengal Plants, p. 1054). Species of Sansevieria 

 were at first referred to the genus Aletris. 



