EXGELMANX NOTES OX AGAVE. 3OI 



domain. The spikes are slender, the flowers fragrant, the stig- 

 matic lobes wide-spreading. 



I. Agave maculosa, Hook. Bot. Mag. 1859, *- 5122: foliis 

 e caudice subterraneo crasso cylindrico lanceolato-linearibus con- 

 cavis undulatis demum recurvatis glaucis lurido-maculatis carti- 

 lagineo-denticulatis ; spicae laxiflorse bracteislanceolato-subulatis ; 

 ovario ovato-lanceolato brevi, lobis lineari-oblongis erecto-patulis 

 tiibo gracili subcylindrico sursum parum ampliato plerumque 

 multo brevioribus, staminibus fauci ipste insertis lobos vix asquan- 

 tibus stylum pleiiimque superantibiis, stigmatibus demum patulis 

 obcordatis : capsula oblonga longc cuspidata basi instipitem con- 

 tracta. — A. maculata, Engelm. in Bot. Mex. Bound. 1859, P- -H' 

 non Regel ; A. ^'il■ginica., Torr. ibid., non al. 



Var. J. BREViTUBA : lobis perigonii tubo magis ampliato fere 

 sequilongis, antheris lorgioribus. 



Along the Rio Grande from below El Paso o Matamoros. 

 Wislizenus, 1S47 ; Bigelow. Schott, 1850-52 : the variety below 

 El Paso, Wright, No. 1095. — Fl. Mii\- and June. — The caudex, 

 somewhat different from the allied species, is a black cylindric 

 stock \-\ inches thick and 4-6 inches long, bearing thick white 

 Tiidical fibres at the base. Leaves \-\ foot long, as many inches 

 wide, concave, flexuous, at length recurved ; scape 2-4 feet high, 

 spike 6-12 inches long: frag^^ant purplish-green flowers, about 

 2-2 J inches long ; ovary 3-4 lines, tube i inch and lobes 7-9 lines 

 long, filaments* and anthers as long as lobes. The stigma is 

 remarkable on account of the deep emargination, almost biloba- 

 tion, which form is onlv indicated in other Agaves, but is distinct 

 in Polyanthes. The firmer texture of the capsule (li inches 

 long, i inch thick), and its stipe and beak, further characterize 

 this species. Seed 2-2* lines wide, thicker than usual in this 

 genus, marked by a flat reticulation. 



2. Agave Viuginica, Lin. : acaulis : foliis late seu oblongo- 

 lanceolatis concavis undulatis flexuosis demum recurvis laete viri- 

 dibus herbaceo mucronatis margine asperatis ; perigonii ovario 



* This is one of the few Agaves with stamens so short that they may be called included: 

 they occur in all three sections. It is not impossible that superficial investigration has 

 classed several of these American plants with the Asiatic genus Polyanthes ; but they have 

 — at least this one has— an entirely inferior ovary and filaments doubled up in the bud, both 

 of which characters are wanting in Polyanthes. Kuath (En. 5, p. 48) already suggests this 

 in regard to Polyanthes Mexicana, Zucc. 



