118 
3. Of Sansevieria Kirkii, eae in 1887 we knew the leaves only. 
It was sent to Kew by Sir John Kir k, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., in October 
81, as a native of the East Coast of Africa. We have had it in 
cultivation at Kew since that time. ane leaf is nedas in shape, 
an rny in PN ure. We _ hav only grown it to a le ength of 
either of the three other comparatively flat-leaved kinds, and down 
the back of the lower part of the leaf run about five distinct grooves, 
a character one distinguishes it readily from S. guineensis an 
S. longiflor 
In 1879 ‘Sir John Kirk forwarded through the Foreign Office a 
RBE of fibre from the leaf of a species of gein found grow- 
on the mainland opposite the island of Zanzibar. The specimen 
The report of Messrs. Noble on this specimen was as follows :—“ We 
“have carefully examined the fibre from eee Africa ; it is worth as a 
“hemp 22/. per ton at the present fe. ” (18 
Recently Sir John Kirk has been go od oe gh to furnish more 
teers information as regards the plant yielding this fibre. In a letter 
ted 2nd Dec. 1886 he mentions :— 
uT grows abundantly near Pangane on the mainland opposite the 
“island of Zanzibar and in the district T een that and Mombasa, an 
tj «is used by the natives to yield a long and useful fibre, of which T sent 
“The plant has flowered with me at Mbwéni in the island of 
“Zanzibar, but the soil being too dry and sandy it did not succeed very 
“well 
2 owers are on a stalk crowded in a head, not racemose, 0 
“spike, as in another species common on the island. scared 
“my flowering specimens rotted in drying, so that I have never been 
g, that i 
As reported by Sir John Kirk, a single leaf (of what we take to be the 
same species) under favourable circumstances attains a height of 9 feet; 
and from one such leaf excellent fibre weighing 3 oz. 1 been peinp: 
This and other examples of fibre-are in the Kew Museum, No. 
Specimens of fibre prepared from S. Kirkii, yielded i is R ‘of 1°69 
per cent. by weight of the green leaf. They were described by Messrs. 
Ide and Christie as follows :— Rather stout, but very clean and good 
“colour ; = strength fair. Value ae per ton.” 
4, Sansevieria thyrsiflora, Thunb., is the s species on which the goos 
Sansevi ieria trae first constituted by hantar, in the year 1794. 
leaf is nearly flat and does not reach above a foot or a foot and a half in 
length, and is an inch and a half or two inches broad at the middle, with 
anioni potiliag and a distinct red edge. The flower does not: differ 
