808 NOTES ON AGAVE 
On various sierras in the Pimeria Alta in Southern Arizona, in flowers and fruit in July, A. Schott. — The leaves 
of this prettiest and smallest of all Agaves are, together with the broad, sheathing base, not quite 3 inches long ; base 
1 inch wide and a little longer ; blade 1} i faves long, 4 lines wide, somewhat contracted above the base ; spines 2 
lines long, at last gray. a its lower third or half the leckamegin bears very small, but rigid, sharp teeth, and higher 
up separates into a few short, stout, white filaments, —the only instance of this ssiaiahiaatiins I believe, in the whole 
genus. Scape 4-5 feet high. Flowers 6, ovary over 2, tube 2}, and lobes 1} lines long, with stamens and style about 
4 linea in length and scarcely reaching eon the lobes of the perigone ; ae 3, capsule 4-5, and seeds 12 lines 
long. 
* * * Folia margine aculeato-dentata. 
7. AGAVE HETERACANTHA, Zucc. in Act. Leop. Car. 16, 2, 675; Kunth, En, 5, 836: subcaulescens ; foliis crassis 
rigidis lineari-lanceolatis in margine corneo demum soluto aculeos complanatos uncinatos gerentibus, spina terminali 
valida subterete versus basin leviter exarata; scapo et spica bracteis e basi triangulari subulatis marcidis 
demum deciduis ornato ; floribus in pedicellis brevissimis binis, perigonio ovario oblongo —— et [807 (19)] 
lineari-oblongis erecto-patulis tubum campanulatum brevissimum multoties superantibus, filamentis bas 
oborum insertis perigonio fere duplo longioribus; capsula ovata s. oblonga plus minus cuspidata. — " Poselger Salm, 
in Bonplandia 7, 92 ; Jacobi, Agav. p. 40; A. Lechuguilla, Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 213. 
On the Rio Grande from El Paso down the river, Wright, 682, 1432, 1907 ; southward to Parras, Saltillo, and 
further, Gregg, Wislizenus ; Karwinski, Poselger. Flowers in May. —I have voukniedk to unite the different forms 
under the oldest (Zucearini’s) name, the more so as I was able to compare the original specimen in the Munich botan- 
ical garden, where I found it in flower in August, 1869. Whether several other garden-forms, described under differ- 
ent names, all characterized by soluble corneous gee ~edges, belong here, or constitute distinct species, can be decided 
only when their flowers become known. Zuccarini’s typical epedinaen has leaves 18 inches long and 2} inches wide, 
with a spine 14 inches long, the spiny teeth straight or curved up or down, whence the specific name; scape 6 feet 
high ; flowers only 1 inch long (ovary 5, perigone 7, tube over 1}, filaments 15 lines long from base of tube) ; no fruit 
was matured, but many bulbilli were sprouting from the top of the scape. Gen. Jacobi (Ag. app. p. 14) describes a 
specimen which flowered at Brussels with perigone divided to the base, most probably inaccurate, as no Agave is known 
with such a flower. 
ur plant grows in mountainous and rocky localities, is called Lechuguilla (“ Lecheguilla” in the Mex. Bound. 
Bot. is a misprint), and its rootstock Amole ; the leaves furnish excellent but rather coarse fibre, and the rootstock is 
used as soap and is a “savory food ” when roasted ; trunk 4-6 inches high ; leaves (before me) 10-20 inches long and 
1-1} inches wide, margin and its teeth dark red-brown, at last fading to ash-color and becoming detached from the 
leaf, but adhering long to the terminal spine; teeth 9-12 or 15 lines apart, below smaller and straight, upward larger 
(14-2 or even 3 Haws Tong) and strongly uncinate, not sige eee as in the original specimen ; terminal spine 7-9 lines 
slightly grooved on lower third or fourth. Scape 6-10 feet ead its bracts from 2 inches down to $ inch long, 
uous, so that in the Pasay spike little of them is seen. The flowers before me indicate two forms, 
one with a slender ovary, 7-9 lines long, larger flower (perigone 9-10, siti 1-1}, anthers 6 lines long), and [308 (20)] 
oblong, strongly cuspidate capsule, about 1 inch long and half as wide ; the other form has a shorter ovary, 
5-7 lines long, smaller flower (perigone 7-8, tube 4-1 line long), ant rather shorter anthers, capsule shorter, lines 
long and 6 wide, with a short abrupt point. Both forms seem to occur in all the localities mentioned, and certainly 
belong together. I have been particular in describing them, because we rarely have occasion to study numerous pa 
varying specimens of these plants, but must be generally satisfied with poor fragments, so that it is dificult to ascer- 
tain the amount of variation within the species. 
long. 
ee 
8. Acave UraneEnsts, E'ngelm. in S. Watson’s Bot. 40th Parall. p. 497 : ssi = crassis glaucis e basi 
lata attenuatis in spinam validam infra carinatam supra usque ad apicem late exaratam excurrentibus, margine oe 
rectis validis albidis dentato; bracteis scapi elati e basi lata subulatis marcescentibus ; Fear (minoribus ae vis) p 
unculatis binis vel szpius quaternis, ovario oblongo perianthio subbreviore, tubo late campanulato abbreviato ee 
seat erectis ter quaterve breviore medio stamina limbum paulo excedentia gerente ; capsula oblonga breviter 
euspi 
tits Utah, about St. George, etc., extending into Arizona, Dr. E. Palmer, J. E. Johnson, F. Bischoff. — 
Leaves 6-12 inches long, 1-13? wide, not jonbeokik above the wider base, very thick and rather hard, strongly marked 
with the impressions of the margins of the adjoining leaves ; terminal spine about 1 inch long, pale or white in the 
specimens before me, with a darker base and tip, almost triangular in the cross section ; lateral spiny teeth 1}-2 lines 
long and as wide, white with a darker base. Sea’ cape, together with the dense spike of 1-2 feet in length, 5-7 feet high; 
uncles and pedicels distinct, in fruit often 3 lines long, ultimate ones shorter. Flowers scarcely 1, perigone about 4 
= long, lobes three times or more the length of the shallow and wide tube, which bears the stamens in the middle, 
at the base of the lobes as many short-tubed Agaves do ; filaments less than 3 inch long, about 2 or 3 lines longer 
