306 NOTES ON AGAVE. 
lines long, filaments 1? and anthers as long as lobes. The stigma is remarkable on account of the deep emargination, 
almost bilobation, which form is only indicated in other Agaves, but is distinct in Pol yanthes. The firmer texture of 
the capsule (14 inches long, } inch thick), and its stipe and beak, further characterize this species. Seed 2-24 lines 
wide, thicker than usual in this genus, marked by a flat reticulation. 
2. Agave Virarnica, Linn. : acaulis; foliis late seu oblongo-lanceolatis concavis undulatis flexuosis 
“‘demum recurvis late viridibus herbaceo mucronatis margine asperatis; perigonii ovario ovato multo longio- [302 (14)] 
ris Sagur angusto sensim ampliato lobis lineari-oblongis erectis bis terve longiore, filamentis “inferio ori tubi 
adnatis sursum clavatis perigonium vix duplo superantibus, stigmatibus suborbiculatis demum patentibus ; cap- 
ae tricocea subglobosa retusa breviter stipitata. 
ar TIGRINA : robustior ; foliis majoribus pulchre purpureo-maculatis ; staminibus imo tubo adnatis; cap- 
sulis depresso-globosis. 
usus POLYANTHUS : spica densiflora in glomerulos paucifloros congestis seepius antholyticis. 
On dry hills and in open woods from Maryland and Virginia southward and westward to Missouri and Texas, 
but not on the western plains or in West Texas, nor on the Rio Grande ; the variety near salt-marshes on the coast of 
South Carolina, Dr. Mellichamp. — Flowers June to August, according to latitude. — This species was first known 
through Clayton’s collection, who described it as “ Aloe from Virginia,” and makes mention of its fragrant flowers and 
deciduous leaves; from his specimens and notes it was published by Gronovius in his Flora Virginica, 1739, and 
through him became known to Linnzus, who in 1751 (Ameen. Acad. 3, p. 22) referred it to his new genus Agave. 
Leaves mostly }-1 foot long, 14 or 2 inches wide ; in a form from Houston, Texas, the leaves are lance-linear 
and not more than half as wide ; marginal teeth extremely small, consisting of single projecting epidermis cells, or 
larger, 3 to (rarely) } line long, and then consisting of innumerable short cells, not sharp-pointed, but rough, like 
the small serratures of some Yuccas, only less rigid. Scape altogether 3-5 feet high, of which the spike measures 1 or 
1} feet. Flower, including ovary but excluding stamens, — as I always measure Agave flowers, — 1-1} inches long, with 
the stamens } or rarely 1 inch longer ; anthers lines long. Capsules 7-9 lines long, a little less wide; seeds 2-3 
lines wide, lightly reticulated, with depressed, minutely dotted areas. 
ar. tigrina is larger and more robust ; leaves tapering to a point or abruptly cuspidate, 1-14 feet long 2}-3 
inches wide, beautifully “wetted $ the purple color is produced by a clear purple liquid contained in a — layer of 
small flattened cells between the transparent epidermis cells and the large parenchymatous cells filled 
chlorophyll and often with rhaphides ; capsule 8-9 lines nel less high ; seeds over 4 lines wide. This [303 (15)] 
variety has retained its peculiarities in cultivation with m 
Of the sport with crowded, often antholytic feared, and with a tendency to fasciation, I have before spoken 
(p. 296, note). 
3. AGAVE VARIEGATA, Jacobt, Hamb. Gart. Zeitg. 21, p. 459; Agav. p. 180; Saunders Refug. Bot, v. t. 326: 
ulis ; foliis late lanceolatis undulatis margine asperato denticulatis; perigonii tubo late ear ovario 
oblongo paulo longiore lobos ovato-oblongos patulos demum reflexos longitudine aquante seu eis paulo breviore, 
filamentis superiori tubi parti adnatis longe exsertis, stylo demum stamina superante ; capsula oblonga cuspidata. 
e lower Rio Grande near Mier and Matamoros, Dr. J. Gregg, May, 1847. Leaves (before me) 9-10 inches 
long, 13-2 inches wide ; edge similar to that of the last, but teeth often sharper and curved upwards ; scape “3-5 feet 
high” ; flowers in Dr. Gregg’s specimen about # inch apart, in the axil of a broad triangular bract, 4 lines long, 
upwards smaller. Flowers 1} inches long; ovary, tube, and lobes, of nearly equal length, 6 lines, or tube a little 
shorter and lobes a little goon stamens “fusexted about 3 or # up the tube, not at the base of the lobes, and about 
2 inches in length ; anthers } inch long; style slender, at last often longer than the stamens; only capsule seen 10 
lines long and 6 wide ; seeds niaiaty oblique (always ?), 2 lines in longest diameter. 
I refer this plant from the Rio Grande with some hesitation to Jacobi’s and Saunders’ A. variegata, the stamens 
of which are said to be inserted “in the throat,’ whatever that may mean ; the leaves of this plant, which is said to 
be “ probably ” from Mexico, and which has repeatedly flowered in Europe, are mottled with lurid blotches, of which 
in my dried specimen no trace is visible. I have not the means to ascertain whether any of the older names, such as 
A. brachystachys, Cav., or A. polyanthoides, Hort., refer to this same plant ; the former, however, seems to to be a larger 
plant, t, with larger “entire” leaves ; A. saponaria, LindL., is certainly also similar, but, if the figure in tes Reg. 25 t. 
55 is to be relied on, is well ‘Silico by having a prismatic flower-tube. The insertion of stamens 
the tube is not mentioned by Lindley, nor is it scarcely ever spoken of in any descriptions, nor sndicated ? in [304 (16)] 
the figures. 
12 This is one of the few Agaves with stamens so short that entirely inferior ovary and filaments doubled up in the bud, 
they may be called included ; they occur in all three sections. both of which characters are wanting | in Polyanthes. Ku eo 
It is not impossible that isu geoiors investigation has classed 5, = a Sram dee in regard to Polyan 
