LILIACE.E 



113 



5 tall. Bark on old trunks |'-' thick, dark red-brown and broken into thin oblong plates 

 covered by small irregular closely appressed scales. Wood light brown, fibrous, spongy, 

 heavy, difficult to cut and work. 



Distribution. Shores of Matagorda Bay, southward through western Texas into Nuovo 

 Leon, and through the valley of the Rio Grande to the eastern base of the mountains of 

 western Texas; forming open stunted forests on the coast dunes at the mouth of the Rio 

 Grande; farther from the coast often spreading into great impenetrable thickets. 



Cultivated as an ornamental plant in the gardens of central and western Texas and 

 in other southern States, and occasionally in those of southern Europe. 



3. Yucca macrocarpa Coville. Spanish Dagger. 



Leaves lf-2 long, l'-2' wide, gradually narrowed from the dark red lustrous base to 

 above the middle, rigid, concave, yellow-green, rough on the lower surface and frequently 

 also on the upper surface, with a stout elongated dark tip, and thickened margins sep- 



Fig. 108 



arated into stout gray filaments. Flowers in March and April in densely flowered sessile 

 or short-stalked glabrous or occasionally pubescent panicles; perianth usually about 2' 

 long, with acuminate segments, those of the outer and inner rows nearly of the same size; 

 stamens shorter than the elongated style. Fruit 3'-4' long, about \\' thick, abruptly 

 contracted at apex into a stout point, nearly black when fully ripe, with sweet succulent 

 flesh; seeds about \' wide, |' thick, with a narrow border to the rim. 



A tree, rarely exceeding 15 in height, with a usually simple stem 6' '-8' in diameter, and 

 often clothed to the ground with living leaves. Bark dark brown and scaly. 



Distribution. Arid plains from western Texas to eastern Arizona and southward in 

 Chihuahua. 



4. Yucca mohavensis Sarg. Spanish Dagger. 



Leaves 18'-20' long, about 1^' wide, abruptly contracted above the dark red lustrous 

 base, gradually narrowed upward to above the middle, thin and concave except toward the 

 slightly thickened base of the blade, dark green, smooth on both surfaces, with a stout rigid 

 sharp-pointed tip, and entire bright red-brown margins soon separating into numerous 

 pale filaments. Flowers from March to May on slender erect ultimately drooping pedicels 

 l'-l|' long, in densely flowered sessile or short-stemmed panicles 12'-18' in length; perianth 

 l'-2' long, the segments united at the base into a short tube, thickened and hood-shaped at 

 the apex, those of the outer rank often deeply flushed with purple, but little longer than the 

 less prominently ribbed usually wider and thinner segments of the inner rank; stamens 



