ENGELMANN — NOTES ON THE GENUS YUCCA. 47 



a shaggy coat of dead leaves. Leaves " yellowish-green," 9-10 

 inches long, 6-8 lines wide ; marginal fibres singularly fine and 

 straight ; panicle pubescent or glabrous, its axis not straight, as 

 is usual in these plants, Mr. Schott expressly remarks, but 

 variously twisted ; lower bracts 4-5 inches long, i inch wide ; 

 the pendulous, ovate, short-rostrate berry not at all angled, 

 about 2 inches long. — Some doubt may exist whether all the 

 parts of specimens in Schott's, Torrey's and my own herbarium, 

 all collected by Dr. Schott, belong together ; from these speci- 

 mens the leaves and flowers have been described above, while in 

 the account of the stem and fruit I had to rely on Mr. Schott's 

 notes, who possibly may have mixed the fruit of T. baccata with 

 the foliage of the new plant ; but the leaves appear so peculiar 

 that there can scarcely be a doubt about the distinctness of the 

 species to which they belong. 



B. Clistoyucca : fructus indehiscens, erectus? demum siccatus» 

 spongiosus; semina crassiuscula plana vix marginata, albu- 

 mine integro. — Arbor elatior ramosa, panicula sesili. 



♦ Folia serrulato-asperata. 



8. Yucca brevifolia, Engelm. in S. Watson^ Bot. King 

 Mxpl. 1871,/. 496; caule elato ramoso ; foliis brevibus e basi 

 lata sensim angustatis late linearibus supra planiusculis versus 

 apicem concavis subtus convexis carinatis pungentibus rigidissi- 

 mis utrumque asperrimis margine durissimo serrulatis ; panicula 

 sessili ramosa ; fructu ovato obsolete 6-angulato acutato. — 7". 

 Draconis ? var. arborescens^ Torr. Bot. Whipp. Pac. R. Exp. 

 iv. 147. 



On the arid plateaus between the Colorado River and the South 

 California Mountains, in latitude 34J°-36°, at an altitude of 2000- 

 4000 feet, in patches from Southwestern Utah, Northwestern 

 Arizona to Southern Nevada and to Southeastern California, 

 where it is abundantly distributed on the " Palm-plains," also 

 called " Tahichipi desert," between the Mohave River and 

 Walker's Pass, often forming straggling forests. It was first 

 noticed by Fremont 1844, ten years later by Bigelow, and since 

 then by Brewer, Parry, Palmer and Johnson, and has lately even 

 formed the object of photographic pictures. Leaves and fruit 

 with seeds have been obtained, and young plants raised, but the 

 flower remains unknown. 



