95 
writer must consider that Mr. Coville has given the plant another 
synonym in his Y. macrocarpa. When the whole region over 
which this (usually) arborescent species is distributed is carefully 
explored, and the multitudinous forms carefully studied, I have 
no doubt the synonyms will be found truly burdensome already. 
T. S. Brandegee, in Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 2nd ser. iii, 208, 
(pl. xi), has described under the name Y. valida, an arborescent 
form which occurs south of San Quintin, in Baja California. 
This was first collected by the writer in the spring of 1886, and 
Prof. Sereno Watson doubtfully referred the imperfect material 
then collected to Y. schottii. Mr. Brandegee is doubtless right 
in his later opinion that it will prove merely a form of Y. baccata. 
The fruit is known to Mexicans as datile, and among Ameri- 
cans is often called ‘‘ wild bananas,’’ but it produces a crop too 
infrequently or with too great uncertainty to ever be of value in 
that way. The root has been used asa substitute for soap among 
primitive people, but it is not likely to ever enter into competition 
with that article. Nor is it likely ever to become in demand as 
a fiber plant, though its leaves yield a long and tough fiber that 
has been utilized in Texas and Mexico to some extent. In 
Mexico the plant is said to be made to yield an alcoholic liquor. 
Then, wherefore—if not its beauty—is all the regal magnifi- 
cence of its luxuriant tropical foliage and flowers—and is not 
that sufficient? 
THE YUCCA PALM. 
Yucca BREBIFOLIA Engelmann, in Watson’s Bot. King Surv. 
496 [1871]. Type locality: ‘‘ Sandy and gravelly plains west of 
the Colorado, California.’’ 
@ Dr. John Torrey, in 1857, first named this Yucca draconis var. 
arborescens i in Pac. R. Rep. iv. 147. 
Dr. Engelmann first gave ‘he plant a specific name, as above, 
and under that name the tree yucca of the Mohave Desert has 
become widely famous. 
F. V. Coville, in Cont. from U. S. Natl. Herb. iv. 201, gives 
this species the name Y. arborescens, but as a matter of fact, the 
