312 NOTES ON AGAVE. 
t+ Tubus lobis vix brevior vel equalis. 
14, AGAVE RIGIDA, Mull. Dict. ed. 8, 1768 : caulescens ; foliis lanceolato-linearibus glaucescentibus, margine 
aculeis distantibus rectis parvis fuscis dentato, spina terminali alice terete spe torta basi ipsa solum paulo excavata 
in marginem corneum decurrente ; scapo elato foliaceo-bracteato, panicule ovate capsuligere vivipareeque ramis hori- 
zontalibus ramulosis aE florum laxiores bracteis triangularibus brevibus stipatos gerentibus ; ovario perigonio 
paulo breviore, staminibus medio tubo infundibuliformi lobis paulo breviori vel supra medium insertis longe exsertis 
stylo demum equilongis. — Fourcroya rigida, Haw. Syn. 74, Kunth en. 5, 843 ; A. angustifolia, Haw. Saxif. 35 ; 
Ixtli, Karw. ap. Siiles, Hort. Dyck. 304; Jacobi Ag. 95. 
Var. Loneirotta : foliis multo longioribus glaucis, aculeato-dentatis, spina a non decurrente. 
Var.? Srsanana: foliis multo perenne viridioribus margine integris seu pauci-dentatis, spina terminali non 
decurrente. — Agave Sisalana, Perrine, vide in 
he original plant was, according to Miller, feolht from Vera Cruz; my specimens, on which the above diagno- 
sis is based, were collected in Yucatan by Dr. Schott. Dr. Perrine suvty, and Dr. Schott ten years ago, studied in 
Yucatan this interesting plant, its different forms and economical uses, and left us accounts of it, the former in Sena 
Doc. 300, Washington, ee 12, 1838; the latter in the Report of the Agricultural Department at Washington = 
1869. Both agree that there is a common native species in Yucatan, called Chelem by the aboriginal inhabitants ; but 
sian time immemorial a number of varieties, all characterized by much longer leaves, and one also by the absence of 
rginal spines, and differing among themselves in the quantity pee quality of their fibre, have pe eee by 
nme poor tets of Yucatan, and are a staple product of that country to this pel eae the well-kno 
Sisal hemp. The people know them as Jenequen (Schott) or pacers (Perrine), and distinguish, « as [B17 (29)] 
Dr. Schott reports, the Yaxct (Yashki) as furnishing the best quality and the Sacei (Sacqui) with the lar; 
est quantity of fibre ; Chucumei, larger than the last, produces coarser fibre ; Babci has fine fibre but in mates quantity; 
Citamct, with small narrow ienvin: and poor fibre, stands probably nearest to the wild plant. Dr. Perrine mentions 
another variety, Istle, evidently the Jztlt of Karwinski, as furnishing a fine fibre called Pita. These plants yield a 
return of leaves when four or five years old, and may last 50 or 60 years under proper management ; the flowering 
scape is cut off as soon as 4 feet high, when, ae axillary branches continue the growth of the plant, whieh i is thus 
kept so long alive by being prevented from flowering. 
The trunk of the wild plant of Yucatan — id I refer with little doubt to Miller’s old A. rigida — is 1-2 feet 
high, leaves 14-2 feet long and as many inches wide, contracted above the broader base and widest about the middle ; 
lateral teeth 3 or even 1 inch apart, mostly straight, from a broad base 1-2 lines long, rather unequal, with smaller 
ones interspersed, dark brown ; terminal spine 1 inch long, 1? lines in diameter, straight, or often somewhat twisted, 
terete, scooped out at base but uae channelled, dark red- beatin. a dark corneous margin extending down the leaf-edge 
for pevienl inches and bearing the uppermost teeth. Scape 12-15 feet high; flowers pale yellowish-green, 2]-2 
inches long, perigone 16, tube 6-7, lobes 9-10 lines long ; stamens inserted about the middle of the ort “ blood-red 
upwards,” 1 inch longer than the perigone ; anthers 10-10} lines long ; styles at last as long as sta 
A. Ixtli, which in 1872 flowered in the gardens of the late we. Thuret at Antibes, is entirely tie flowers of 
the same dimensions, anthers a little larger (114 lines long) ; capsules, which grow with the bulbs on the same pani- 
cle, oval, over 2 inches long, 1} wide, very short, stipitate ; seeds uncommonly large, 4} lines high, with a ventral 
hilum (in many other Agaves I find the hilum more basal, a character which may be of some value). I believe this 
is the first time that the flowers of the Ixtli have been described ; they identify the plant with the old A. rigida, or at 
least the above-described Chelem. A. Karwinskii, Zuce. is sacbally the same thing. 
With the name of longifolia I designate the variety known as Saccit and extensively Siig See in = (30)] 
Yucatan. It is principally distinguished by its much longer spiny leaves, 4-5} feet long, 34-4 inches w 
flowers very similar to those ae the wild plant, but filaments greenish. A. fourcroides, Jacobi, Ag. "ior, probably 
belongs here, and A. elongata, Jacobi, 108, I would also refer to this form if the description did not expressly mention 
a channelled terminal spine. 
Ayave Sisalana is the name that Dr. Perrine gave to the plant known to the natives of Yucatan as Yasci, the 
most valuable of the fibre-producing Agaves, and which was introduced by him into South Florida, some thirty-five 
or forty years ago, during his efforts to acclimatize commercially valuable tropical plants in that almost tropical portion 
of our territory, — efforts which were aided by Congress by a large grant of land, but which were destroyed, together 
with his own life, during the subsequent Indian wars. With this Agave, however, he has been successful, as it is now 
naturalized, and is quite abundant at Key West and the adjacent coast. Dr. Parry found it there in full bloom 
in ¢ ae 187], and gives the following description of it: trunk short, leaves pale green os glaucous, 4-6 feet 
long and 4-6 inches wide, generally smooth-edged, but here and there bearing a few unequal, sometimes very stout and 
sharp teeth ; terminal spine stout, often twisted, purplish-black ; scape 20 or 25 feet high, cae 8 feet long and half 
as wide; one of the largest plants examined had 35 branches in the panicle, the largest (near the middle) 2 feet long, up- 
per and lower ones shorter. The flowers are slightly larger than those described, with a shorter, thicker ovary, stamens 
