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BOTANY. 



221 



Yucca? faba'IFLORA (n. ^p.): subacaulis ; foliisangnste-lincaribuscanaliculatisrigidis recurvatis 

 margine filamentosis ; pedunculis scajnformibiis subpaniculatis ; bracteis e basi dilatatis promisse 

 acuminatis ; pedicellis fasciculatis ; sepalis linearibus subconniventibus ; stylus filiforniibus, 

 stigmate integro truncato. Gravelly bills near tbe mouth of tlie Pecos ; Bigeloiv, Stony bills 

 west of tbe Nueces^ Texas ; Wright^ (No, 1908). Caudex apparently ver} short. Leaves 12- 

 18 inches long, 4-5 lines wide, conduplicate when dry, very smooth, acute at the tip, but not 

 pungent ; the filaments on the margin 1-2 inches long and about as thick as common sewing- 

 thread. Scape 3-4 feet long, with distant clasping bracts ; the upper part racemose and some- 

 what branching. Pedicels 3-4 together^, 6-10 lines long, arising from the axis of a clasping 

 bract, erect, a little thickened upward and articulated close to the flower. Perianth white? the 

 divisions about three-fourths of an inch long, scarcely 2 lines wide, rather obtuse, scarcely 

 united at the base. Stamens 6, shorter than the perianth ; anthers oblong ; bifid at the base- 

 Ovary oblong, 3-celled ; the cells with numerous horizontal ovules; style a little cxserted, 

 filiform, triangular and a little enlarged toward the extremity. This differs from all the other 

 species of the genus in its elongated filiform style and narrow sepals. The fruit of Mr, Wright's 

 specimens in Dr. Gray's herbarium is unripe. It is subglobose, and about an inch in diameter. 

 As Mr. Wright likens it to a fig, it is doubtless fleshy. 



Yucca puberula, Haw. in Phil. Mag. March 1828, ex Kunth. Enum. 4, p. 272. Y. brevifolia^ 

 A. Schotty MSS. Valley of the Santa Cruz river, and Sierra del Pajarito, near the monument, 

 Sonora, June ; Schott. Stems 6-8 feet high. Leaves mostly in a terminal crown, about a foot 

 long and 5-6 lines wide, concave above, a little rounded underneath, of a thick and firm texture 

 with a few loose threads on the margin, the apex armed with a spine. The persistent retrorsely 

 imbricated vestiges of former leaves give the stem a very rough appearance. Scape 2-3 feet 

 long, paniculate above, pubescent. Bracts at the base of the branches lanceolate, tapering to 

 a long point. Flowers apparently white. Sepals broadly elliptical l^- inch long, rather acute. 

 Fruit about 2^ inches long, and 1|- in diameter, pointed with the base of the styles. ** This is 

 tlie Sofol of the Sonorlans, but not of the Texans along the Rio Grande. It bears large fleshy 

 fruits which are edible, and called Datili^ probably on account of their shape.'' — Schott. 



Yucca rupicola, Scheele in LinncBay 23, p, 143. Y. tortifolia, Lindh. MSS. Gravelly hills and 

 plains, western Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua, April-May. (No. 688, 689, and 1,909^ 

 Wright. No. 709, Fasc. IV, Lindheimer .) Fruit an inch and a half long, dry or nearly so, often 

 remarkably constricted near the middle. 



Yucca baccata (n. sp.) : foliis lanceolatis planis crebris margine filamentiferisapice convolutis, 

 spina terminali brevi ; floribus campanulatis ; fructibus racemosis cernuis ovatis baccatis. Parras, 

 Cohahuila ; Thurher. High table lands between the Eio Grande and the Gila ; Major Emory. 

 This is the same species that is noticed in the Botany of Whipple's Report as having been found 

 at Hurrah Creek, New Mexico, by Dr. Bigelow. According to Dr. Bigelow it is a low species, 

 with a subterranean caudex. We have no information as to the length of the scape. The 

 flowers appear to form a racemose panicle. They are larger than in any other species of Yucca 

 here noticed ; the sepals being 2^-3 inches long, tapering to each end and 6-7 lines wide in the 

 middle. The fruit is the size of a large fig, with a sweet edible pulp. Near Monterey, Cali- 

 fornia, Dr. Parry collected the leaves of a yucca resembling those of this species, except in 



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being smaller. On the plains of western Texas, near the Limpio, and in the vicinity of Presidio 

 del Norte, Dr. Bigelow found a yucca 10-15 feet high, with leaves almost exactly like those of 



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