10 
round, especially in the young state, obtuse at the end, arching, reaching 
when fully developed a length of 3 or 4 feet and a thickness of about 
an inch. The peduncle is about a foot long; the raceme much longer, 
h red cylindrical flowers just like those of guineensis in 
structure, but only about an inch long. It is spread 
Afi Zanzibar to Angola. Our Kew plants were received by 
In the descri oe attached to the figure of the plant in the Botanical 
Moqramne. mentioned above, Sir William Hooker adds the following 
rtic = 
So ‘About three years ago (that is in 1857) there were received at the 
“ Foreign Office, and transferred to oe Admiralty, samples of a 
“ peculiar fibre and cordage under the name of Ifé, said to be derived 
“ from a new plant at the Portuguese Bottles Angola, west coast 
“of Africa. a were accompanied by some apparently living 
“ plants, which were placed in the cellars of the Foreign Office, and 
& by the bina of our valued friend, G. Lenox-Coningham, Esq., 
“ forwarded io Kew, were they soon recovered, and have since 
“ flowered. The habit of the plant was that of Sansevieria, but the 
“ leaves very dark-coloured, and quite terete and solid in the interior, 
“ very unlike any known species of that genus. My duties at the 
“ Paris Exhibition of 1855 led me to = careful investigation of the 
“ extensive samples, in the Portuguese aei e of the raw mate- 
“ rial fibre, and manufactured aeos ship- cables, rope, beautifu 
“ cordage, &c., of the same material, and amongst ‘'The products of 
“ Angola,’ it is 5 thus stated in ae ‘Re eport’:—‘ Fibre marked, from San- 
“ < sevieria angolensis, se ae being a MS. name of Dr. Welwitsch 
“ ¢ for a remarkable species o nsevieria, with long, stout, terete 
“ < leaves, which is in calGvation at Kew. The cordage and rope 
“ < made of this plant appear to the eye of excellent quality, whatever 
“ “experience may prove them _to be? Experiments recently made 
ine 
“ all Seca countries on account of ‘the strength and durability of the 
“ fibre, under the name of patoi em 
Of samples of S. cylindrica fibre in the Kew Museums there is one 
specimen from Mauritius, sent by Mr. Duncan; fibre of the Probo and 
rope and cordage made from it, probably S. cylindrica, Sierra Leone, 
Commodore A. Eardley Wilmot, H.M.S. “Rattlesnake.” The follow- 
ing note accompanies this e :—“ Grows abundantly, can be 
“ easily propagated.” There is also a specimen labelled Mokhosi fibre 
and leaf, probably S. ENN used for making cordage, &c., marked 
S. E. Africa, T. Baines 
Specimens of fibre prepared from plants growing at Kew, by Death’s 
fibre machine, were described by Messrs. Ide and Christie as follows :— 
“ “ This is the second best fibre amongst the — sent, and except 
* that it does not = as saci it is almost equal to S. Longiflora. 
Value 28/. per to 
7. We have at- ie a.dried specimen, as well as living giani of 
S. sulcata, which appears to be an unpublished name of Boger’s. The 
