5 1 6 L iliac e<z Yucca. 



Y. gloriosa, several feet in height arid more or less branched. 

 The campanulate perianth is 6-parted, with the segments 

 nearly equal in size, including 6 stamens whose filaments are 

 dilated, becoming broader upwards. Ovary 3-celled, with 3 

 sessile stigmas. Capsule hexagonal, many-seeded. This genus, 

 with the Aloes and two or three other genera, constitutes a 

 well-marked tribe of the Liliacece. The name is its Peruvian 

 appellation. Although there are perhaps a score or more of 

 species in cultivation, only about six or eight with their 

 varieties are generally known. 



There are three tolerably distinct groups, founded on the 

 characters of the leaves. 

 (1.) Margin of the adult leaves distinctly serrulate. 



(2.) Margin of the leaves filarnentose. 



(3.) Margin of the leaves entire, neither filarnentose nor 

 serrulate. 



To the first group belong two or three species which an? 

 not so hardy and do not flower so freely as the others. 



1. F. aloifolia, having a thick stem which attains a height 

 of 10 feet or more, and usually simple in this country on 

 account of its not flowering. Leaves numerous, ascending, 18 

 to 24 inches long and about an inch broad, dark green or 

 slightly glaucous, narrowed above the dilated base, with a hard 

 reddish-brown point. 



2. Y. Treculeana. A very distinct and handsome plant 

 from Texas, not yet much known in England, though it has 

 frequently flowered in France. It is also caulescent, and the 

 fully developed leaves are from 3 to 4 feet long by 2 to 3 

 broad, dark green, strongly mucronate, and regularly serrulate. 



The Filarnentose series includes several of the hardier species 

 of our gardens whose flowers in early Summer are by no means 

 rare, a season seldom passing without producing them, even 

 from quite young plants. Those commonly cultivated in the 

 open air are all stemless. 



3. Y. filamentosa. One of the most familiar species, popu- 

 larly known as Adam's Needle-and-Thread. The leaves are 

 very numerous, in a dense rosette, from a foot to 2 feet long 

 and 1 to 2 inches broad, bright green, glaucous, slightly 

 coriaceous, not sharp-pointed, spreading and at length reflexed. 

 Scape 5 to 6 feet high, much branched ; flowers numerous, 

 about 2 inches deep. There is also a pretty variegated variety. 

 F. strlcta is very like this, but smaller in all its parts. 



