YUCCA. 



reprefenfalioii to be Icfs happy and charaderiltic ifian that 

 in the Magazine. 



2. Y. recufvifolia. Drooping-leaved Adam's-necdle. Sa- 

 lifb. Parad. t. 31. Purfh n. 3. — Caulefcent. Leaves linear- 

 lanceolate, furrowed, fecurved and drooping ; their edges 

 at length fomewhat filamentous — Native of tht fandy fhores 

 numerous,' in a Cngle row, feparated from each other by of Georgia, where it was found by M. Leconte, flowering 

 tranfverfe membranes, roundiih-obovatc, flat, deprefled, at- in July and Auguft. Thefloivers are of a greenifh-yellow. 



Germen fuperior, oblong, bluntly triangular, with iix fur- 

 rows, rather longer than the ftamens ; llyle none ; fl:igma 

 obtufe, with three furrows, its lobes cloven, the centre 

 pervious. Piric. Berry oblong, bluntly hexagonal, fleihy, 

 perforated at the fummit, of fix cells ; three of the par- 

 titions thicker than the three intermediate ones. Seeds very 



tached, by their pointed bafe, to the inner angle of the 

 cdl. 



Eff. Ch. Corolla inferior, bell-fliaped, its fegments with- 

 out neftaries. Stamens club-fliaped. Style none. Beny 

 hexagonal, of fix cells. Seeds numerous, flat. 



Obf. We have, hke Schreber, adopted Gsertner's idea 

 of the fruit, which Linnaeus does not appear to have feen in 

 perfection, and which Dillenius confefles himfelf to have 

 judged of from the unenlarged germen only. Analogy 

 might well lead thefe authors to prefume it a capfule, 

 which, from the flrufture of the germen, might be judged 

 to confift of three cells. This idea was moreover fup- 



with a tinge of purple. Stem about three feet high. Purjh. 

 This fpecies is recorded in the Paradifus Lomllnenjls, as 

 having flowered, in the late Mr. Swainfon's garden at 

 Twickenham, in 1805 ; yet it is not admitted by Mr. Dry- 

 ander, or Mr. Alton, into the Hortus Keivenfis, or its Epi- 

 tome. The Jloivers are faid by Mr. Salifbury to have a ftrong 

 fmell, mixed with fomething like a citron flavour. The 

 three inner fegments of the corolla are a httle the broadett. 

 Stigma mod like the laft. The edges of the leaves fplit off 

 in a few disjointed filaments, in the manner of T.Jilamentofa, 

 though far lefs remarkably. We have feen no fpecimen. 

 Mr. Purrti having obferved this, as well as the ghriofa, in a 



ported by an account which Ray "had fomehow obtained living ftate, in North America, chiefly indtices us to admit 



from the Eaft Indies ; where indeed no Yucca grows in r ^ • , . . ■ • . « r 



wild, and therefore this account cannot implicitly be 



trufted. Gaertner received, from profeflbr Hermann of 



Strafburg, the ripe fruit of Tucca clraconis ; and this being 



the only authentic inftanee of the feed-veflel of any one of 



the genus pafling under the invelligation of a critical bo- 



tanift, we mull rely on it as affording the only certain type 



of the genus in this particular. Juffieu appears to have 



followed Linnxus ; but the difcovery of the true nature of 



the fruit, rather favours his opinion above-mentioned, of 



the affinity of Tucca to his Bromelia. This is a liandfome 



perennial gi-nus, more or lefs caulelcent, with numerous, 



long, fimple, rigid or coriaceous, pungent leaves ; and 



it into our lift of fpecies ; garden plants being always lefs 

 to be trufted in any doubtful queftion. 



3. Y. aloifolia. Aloe-leaved Adam's-needle. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 457. Willd. n. 2. Ait. n. 2. Purfii n. 5. Curt. Mag. 

 t. 1700. (Y. arborefcenf, foliis rigidioribus reftis ferratis ; 

 Dill. Elth. 435. t. 323.) — Caulefcent. Leaves linear-lanceo- 

 late, even, ftraight ; their edges bordered with fine callous 

 notches. — Native of South America, according to moft 

 authors ; of the coaft of Carolina and Florida, flowering in 

 Auguft. Pur/h. It was intro hiced, more than a hundred 

 years ago, into the Englifli and Dutch gardens, and is ge- 

 nerally treated as a green-honfe (hrub, though faid to fucceed 

 and flower better, in mild feafons, in the open ground. The 



copious, panicled, white, liliiceous, very elegant though Jiem is generally fimple, and rifes to the height of fifteen to 



generally \t\odorous Jloivers. Some of the fpecies are toler 

 ably hardy in our gardens, but they do not very readily or 

 conftantly blofl()m. 



I . Y . gloriofa. Common Adam's-needle. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 456. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. I. Purfh n. 4. Curt. Mag. 

 t. 1260. Andr. Repof. t. 473. (Y. five Jucca, peruana; 

 Ger. Em. 1543. Yuca indica, foliis aloes, flore albo ; Bar- 

 rel. Ic. t. 1 194.) — Caulefcent. Leaves lanceolate, ftraight, 

 furrowed ; their edges fmooth and entire. — Native of Peru 

 and North America. On the fea (here of Carolina, flower- 

 ing in July and Auguft ; the whole plant about ten feet 

 high. Flowers white. PurJh. Tl'.e /km in our gardens is 

 feldom two feet in height, fomewhat branched, thick. 



tough, crowned at the fummit of each branch, if divided, 



with a profiifion of crowded leaves, fpreading in every di- 



reftion, each a foot and a half or two feet long, tapering 



to a hard fpinous point ; contrafted in the lower part, but 



dilated at the very bafe, where they half clafp the ftem : 



their upper furf'ace is of a fine green, fmooth, furrowed 



longitudinally, efpccially towards the end ; the under paler, produced. 



and more even ; the edges quite even and fmooth. Panicle 4. Y. draconis. Drooping-leaved Adam's-needle. Linn. 



tenninal, compound, ereft, compofed of perhaps an liun- Sp. PI. 457. Willd. n. 3. Ait. n. 3. (Y. draconis folio, 



dred drooping^owfrj, not much inferior in fize and beauty ferrato reflexo ; Dill. Elth. 437. t. 324. Tacori ; Cluf. 



to thofe of the White Water-Lily, but more cream-coloured, Exot. 48.) — Caulefcent. Leaves linear-lanceolate, even. 



eighteen feet, even in our confervatories, being for the moft 

 part naked, round, three or four inches in diameter, marked 

 with fears where leaves have been. The upper part, for 

 the fpace of a foot or more, is thickly befet with leaves, 

 fpreading in every diredlion, the lower ones pointing down- 

 wards, the upper ones nearly upwards, a few in the middle 

 only being horizontal. The leave! are all ftraight, narrower 

 and ftiffer than in T. gloriofa, and diilinguiflied by their 

 crenate edges, as well as even furface. The panicle alfo is 

 more denfe and cylindrical, from two to tliree feet high. 

 Flowers white, externally tinged with purple. Stigma abrupt, 

 of three fliorter, lefs dilated and fpreading, lobes. Mr. 

 Ker truly remarks, in the Botanical Magazine, that this 

 fpocies will thrive for many years with very little earth, in 

 pots not more than a foot deep. Its flowering is a rare 

 occurrence, and after that event, the head decays at the 

 top, throwing out lateral flioots, and the plant becomes 

 branched ; but its elegant fimplicity is deftroyed, and we 

 believe no more flowers, at leaft in our gardens, are ever 



tinged at the bafe and points with crimfon, deftitute of fcent. 

 Partial _/?a/^j about an inch long, round, fmooth, with a 

 pair of membranous irafleas at the bafe. Stigma in tliree 

 diftmft, fpreading, cloven lobes. We cannot but think, 

 notwnhftanding Mr. Ker's opinion, that Andrews's figure 

 belongs to this fpecies, and not to aloifolia. This is evinced 

 by the furrows and margin of the leaves, as well as by the 

 itrufture of thcjligma; Aough v/e rouft allow the whole 

 9 



reflexed, crenate. Segments of the corolla fpreading, fome- 

 what recurved. — Native of South Carolina, according to 

 Mr. Alton, who marks this fpecies as a hardy flirub, flower- 

 ing in Odober and November. We have never feen an 

 authentic fpecimen of the Jloiuers, but in the very admirable 

 plate, communicated to Dillenius by his friend Sprckelfon 

 of Hamburgh, and pubhfhed in the Hort. Elth. as above, 

 the (orql/a is reprcfented with more lanceolate, flat, fpread- 



