NOTES ON AGAVE. 305 
seed a pitted appearance, or rarely elevated and tubercular. The arex of these cells are very 
minutely dotted or pitted. 
The filiform, cylindric, or slightly compressed embryo is as long as the hard, whitish, semi- 
transparent, farinaceous and oily albumen. In germination the seed-shell is elevated above the 
ground on top of the largely developed foliaceous cotyledon, contrary to the behavior of Yucca, - 
where the husk enclosing the small and soon decaying cotyledon remains buried in the ground. 
(See Notes on Yucca, 3, p. 2 
Some species bear no hak but, in place of the withered flower, or probably in the axil of its 
bractlet, a bud or bulblet appears, which grows to a considerable size and will eventually 
sprout and propagate the plant. All the postion viviparous Agaves belong here. Sone [300 (12)] 
species, A. [xtli, Karw., in the garden of the late Mr. Thuret of Antibes, bears both c 
sules and bulblets ; a so appears to do A. sobolifera (A. vivipara, Lam.) None of our species 
possess this a 
The native country of the Agaves is pre-eminently Mexico; in the southwestern parts of the 
United States, mostly in Arizona, 13 species are found; but only one of these extends to the 39° 
and even 40° N. Lat., while in California the northern limit of the Agaves is about 34°. A few 
species seem to be natives of the West Indies, and a few more may be peculiar to South America. 
The Agaves said to come from the East Indies, St. Helena, and other parts of the Old World, are 
probably all forms of A. Americana originally brought there from America. 
I now proceed to the enumeration of the species of the territory of the United States, and of a 
few undescribed or imperfectly known foreign Agaves of which I possess sufficient material. 
AGAVE, Linn. 
Perianthium superum tubulosum vel campanulatum, subregulare, subpersistens, limbo 6-fido, laciniis valvatis. 
Stamina 6; filamenta tubo ‘plus minus adnata, in alabastro inflexa, demum plerumque longe exserta ; anthere lineares 
versatiles, Ovarium inferum, triloculare, ovulis anatropis horizontalibus in loculo singulo biseriatis; stylus apice 
incrassato trilobus. Capsula coriacea, loculicide trivalvis ; semina 6-seriata numerosissima, plano-compressa, nigra ; 
embryo axilis, longitudine albuminis cornei. 
lantes Americane, precipue Mexicanze, acaules vel caulescentes, sepius giganter ; foliis crassis sepissime 
aculeato-dentatis spinoso-mucronatis. 
I. SINGULIFLORA. 
Flores e bractearum axillis singuli, laxe spicati. 
The species of this section have a more herbaceous character than those of the two others ; they are stemless 
with softer, probably always annual leaves, not contracted above the base, with marginal asperities more than teeth, 
and a terminal bristle more thana spine. They are the Herbacew and Subinermes of authors, which, however, 
include some species of the next section. Only about a dozen species are known, three of them within our ” (301 (13)] 
domain. The spikes are slender, the flowers fragrant, the stigmatic lobes wide-spreading. 
1. AGave macuLosa, Hook. Bot. Mag. 1859, t. 5122: foliis e caudice subterraneo crasso cylindrico lanceolato- 
linearibus concavis undulatis demum recurvatis glaucis lurido-maculatis cartilagineo-denticulatis ; spice laxiflorse 
bracteis lanceolato-subulatis ; ovario ovato-lanceolato brevi, lobis lineari-oblongis erecto-patulis tubo gracili subeylin- 
drico sursum parum ampliato plerumque multo. brevioribus, staminibus fauci ipse insertis lobos vix equantibus stylum 
plerumque superantibus, stigmatibus demum patulis obcordatis ; capsula oblonga fo cuspidata basi in stipitem con- 
tracta. — A. maculata, Engelm. in Bot. Mex. Bound. 1859, p. 214, non Regel ; A. Virginica, Torr. ibid., non al, 
Var. 8. BREVITUBA : lobis perigonii tubo magis ampliato fere equilongis, staat longioribus 
Along the Rio Grande from below Fl Paso to Matamoros, Wislizenus, 1847; Bigelow, Schott, 1850-52 ; the 
variety below El Paso, Wright, No. 1905. — Flowers May and June. — The caidlex, somewhat different ens the 
allied species, is a black cylindric stock 4-3 inches thick and 4-6 inches long, bearing thick white radical fibres at the 
base. Leaves 4-1 foot long, as many inches wide, concave, flexuous, at length recurved ; scape 2-4 feet high, spike 
6-12 inches long ; fragrant purplish-green flowers, about 2-24 inches long ; ovary 3-4 lines, tube 1 inch and lobes 7-9— 
