Trelease — The Agaveae of Guatemala. 133 



lombia; and Mr. Drummond, in his summary review of 

 the genus, 14 expresses the opinion that its Guatemalan 

 origin seems to require verification. Accepting this 

 view, particularly as the descriptions of F. Selloa do 

 not well fit the only species of the Quezaltenango region 

 — which is very clearly distinct from what is commonly 

 cultivated as F. Selloa, I should say that as yet none of 

 the larger-toothed group Eufurcraea has been shown to 

 be Guatemalan. Three such species actually occur in 

 the Republic : one known only locally on the East slope ; 

 one extending from some 2500 feet altitude on the east- 

 ern slope through the district of Guatemala City at 

 about 5000 feet to something like 2500 feet above sea- 

 level on the western slope ; and the third at rather higher 

 altitudes in the mountains about Quezaltenango. The 

 second and third of these are somewhat abundant, espe- 

 cially the second, and a good deal of fiber is prepared 

 from them by crude means, though not on a commercial 

 scale. Both are called "maguey", like the agaves. In 

 contrast with this, the single representative of the un- 

 armed group Serrulatae that I know as Guatemalan is 

 called "cheech"; this is said by its collector to furnish 

 a sort of crude cordage. 



The habitats of both Agave and Furcraea in Guate- 

 mala correspond to what is known of them elsewhere. 

 Agave, distinctly northern, represented, as has been said, 

 by its larger section Euagave and usually strongly xero- 

 phytic, occurs in gravelly or stony places, on the sides of 

 barrancas, etc., and less commonly on the faces of rocky 

 cliffs than in Mexico. Furcraea, a distinctly southern 

 genus, more frequently found in timbered regions, here 

 also affects the wooded adobe hillsides unless, as seems 

 probable, the more xerophytic Serrulatae occur here as 

 to the north in more open and better drained soil. 



« Rept. Mo. Bot. Gard. 18: 45. 1907. 



