LILY FAMILY. 451 



2' long ; segments 'with a greenish spot on the point ; leaves narrow and 

 flat, all radical. S. Eu.; the only species. 



48. ALOE. (Name from the Arabic.) A large and difficult genus of 

 succulent mostly S. African plants. Probably the commonest is 



A. variegata, Linn. Leaves ascending and lanceolate, 4'-5' long, con- 

 cave above and keeled below, denticulate, green spotted with gray and 

 margined with white ; flowers 1J' long, reddish, in a simple loose raceme 

 3'-4' long ; scape 1° or less high. 



49. YUCCA, BEAR GRASS, SPANISH BAYONET. (American 

 aboriginal name.) Cult, for ornament, but only the nearly stemless 

 species is really hardy N. Flowers summer, large ; and whole plant of 

 striking appearance. The common ones, under various names and 

 varieties, mainly belong to the following : 



* Trunk short, covered with leaves, rising only a foot or two above the 



ground; flowering stalk scape-like; pod dry. 



Y. filamentdsa, Pursh. Common Beak Grass, or Adam's Needle. 

 Erom Md. S. ; leaves lanceolate, l°-2° long, spreading, moderately rigid, 

 tipped with a weak prickly point, the smooth edges bearing thread-like 

 filaments j scape 3°-6° high ; flowers white or pale cream-color, some- 

 times tinged purplish. 



Y. anguBtif 61ia, Pursh. Smaller, with erect and narrow linear leaves, 

 few threads on their white margins, and yellowish-white flowers. 

 S. Dak., S. 



* * Trunk arborescent, 2°-8° high in wild plants on the sands of the coast 

 S., or much higher in conservatories, naked below; no threads to the 

 leaves. 



Y. gloridsa, Linn. Trunk low, generally simple ; leaves coriaceous, 

 smooth-edged, slender-spiny tipped, l°-2° long, l'-lj' wide ; flowers white, 

 or purplish-tinged outside, in a short-peduncled panicle. N. Car., S. 



Y. aloifdlia, Linn. Spanish Bayonet. Trunk 4°-20° high, branch- 

 ing when old ; leaves very rigid, strongly spiny-tipped, with very rough- 

 serrulate, saw-like edges, 2° or more long, lJ'-2' wide ; the short panicle 

 nearly sessile. N. Car. S. 



50. CORDYLINE. (Greek : club, referring to the shape of the roots 

 in some species.) • Various species in choice conservatdries, commonly 

 known as Dracenas, cultivated for the foliage, which is often hand- 

 somely colored. 



C. indivlsa, Steud. Leaves 2°-4° long, and only an inoh or two broad, 

 long-tapering, curving, dark green. New Zealand. 



C. australis, Hook, f . Hardier ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, 2°-3° long 

 and 2'-4' broad, prominently striate. New Zealand. 



C. B&nksii, Hook. f. Stem trunk-like and becoming several feet high ; 

 leaves long-lanceolate (4°-6° long), finely striate, with several prominent 

 veins or ribs ; flowers white. New Zealand ; an excellent species, but not 

 yet very common. 



C. terminalis, Kunth. The commonest one in cultivation, from tropical 

 Asia ; leaves l°-2° long, lanceolate and coriaceous, narrowed to both 

 ends, green, bronze or crimson, clustered near the ends of the branches 

 or the top of the trunk (the latter ordinarily 4° or less high) ; flowers 

 in branched panicles. Parent of most garden Drao^nas. C. oann.*- 

 folia is a form of this. 



