29 



El)£ Crcas'urp at 23fltau«. 



[agat 



by the natives in their curries ; a juice is I 

 pressed from the flowers and used in cur- 

 ing dimness of vision ; and the seeds are ; 

 eagerly sought after by birds. The bark is I 

 powerfully tonic and bitter, and considered 

 effective in small-pox. The wood is use- 

 less except for fuel. The tree, being a fast 

 grower and sparingly clad with leaves, is 

 used for the purpose of training the betel 

 {Piper Betel). [A. A. B.] 



AGAVE. A noble genus of Amarylli- 

 dacece, principally found in Mexico and 

 other parts of South America. The spe- 

 cies, of which several are known, are 

 mostly of large size, with massive spiny- 

 toothed fleshy leaves, forming a large 

 spreading tuft, from the centre of which 

 rises the tall flower scape, supporting a 

 large compound inflorescence. The peri- 

 anth is funnel-shaped, persistent, parted 

 into a limb of six nearly equal divisions ; 

 the stamens are six in number, inserted in 

 the tube of the perianth, and becoming ex- 

 serted after the expansion of the flowers ; 

 the ovary is inferior, three-celled, with 

 many ovules in tw T o rows in the central 

 angle of each cell. Some of the species 

 become caulescent, and they are mostly 

 long-lived plants, making comparatively 

 slow progress in growth until the ap- 

 pearance of the flower stem, which, on the 

 other hand, shoots up very rapidly. The 

 best known species, A. americana, com- 

 monly called the American Aloe, affords 

 a very good illustration of the family. 

 This species is almost stemless : that is to 

 say, its tuft of massive leaves is seated 

 close to the ground, and they spread out 

 on all sides so as to occupy considerable 

 space. These leaves are very thick and 

 fleshy, consisting of hard, firm pulpy 

 matter intermixed with fibres ; they are 

 from three to six feet long, furnished with 

 hard spines, both along the margins and 

 at thepoint. These leaves are very durable, 

 continuing to exist for many years. The 

 plants are long in arriving at a mature or 

 flowering age ; indeed, so slow is their 

 progress, under the artificial conditions in 

 which they are placed in our gardens, as to 

 have led to a popular though erroneous 

 notion that they flower once only in a 

 century'. In reality they flower but once, 

 the mature condition being attained in a 

 longer or shorter period, ten to fifty or 

 seventy years or more, according to the ac- 

 celerating or retarding influences under 

 which they are placed. Having, however, 

 acquired full growth, the plant produces its 

 giant flower-stem from the centre of the 

 leaves, after which it perishes. .New plants 

 are formed around the base of the old 

 one in the form of suckers. After the 

 first appearance of the stem, it grows very 

 rapidly, until a height of from fifteen to 

 twenty or even forty feet is reached ; and, 

 towards the tip, a multitude of symmetri- 

 cally-disposed horizontal branches are pro- 

 duced, at the ends of which branches are 

 crowded bearing the numerous erect yel- 

 lowish-green flowers, by which a sweetish 

 liquid is secreted. The flowering plant re- 



mains for someweeks an object of interest, 

 the flowers being durable and produced 

 in succession. 



The American Aloe appears to have been 

 first introduced to Europe in 1561, at which 

 date it is recorded as being in the posses- 

 sion of Cortusus. Parkinson, in 1640, re- 

 lates that it was first brought into Spain, 

 and from thence spread into all quarters, 

 but is silent as to its being in England. 

 A plant flowered in Paris m 1663. Mr. Ver- 

 sprit, of Lambeth, flowered one, twelve to 

 fifteen feet high, about 1698, it being then a 

 great rarity. Two were bloomed at Hamp- 

 ton Court about 1714. There is a wood 

 engraving extant with the inscription 

 'Aloe americana quae Sonderbusas floritu 

 1662.' A plant flowered at Leipsic in 1700. 

 Mr. Cowell, in 1729, flowered one at his 

 garden in Hoxton; and this, he asserts, 

 was the first seen in England, the others, 

 mentioned above, not being the true 

 Americau Aloe. There is a plate of this 

 plant, by Kirkall, in mezzotinto, dated 

 September 23, 1729. Another flowered at 

 Eaton Hall, in 1737 ; a plate of it, engraved 

 by Toms from a drawing by Badeslade, 

 bearing date November of that year. This 

 plant opened the crown for flowering on 

 June 5th ; the stem-bud appeared on the 

 15th, and grew Ave inches a day for some 

 weeks ; the flower branches were perfected 

 in twelve weeks, and then it stood for a 

 month while the buds were forming ; the 

 number of flowers was about 1,050. Two 

 plants, about fifty years of age, flowered 

 at Hampton Court in 1743, their respective 

 heights being twenty-seven feet and 

 twenty-four feet. The flower stems ap- 

 peared on June 3rd, were in perfection in 

 the middle of August, and continued 

 blooming till the middle of October. A 

 plant which flowered near Carlsbad in 

 1754 was twenty-six feet high, and pro- 

 duced twenty-eight branches, which bore 

 above 3,000 flowers. Another flowered at 

 Lcyden in 1760, and a third at Friedricks- 

 berg, in Denmark, twenty-two feet high, 

 with nineteen branches and more than 

 4,000 flowers. The tallest of which we 

 have any account, was one that bloomed 

 in the King of Prussia's garden, and this 

 reached forty feet in height. . 



The species of Agave are not only orna- 

 mental in character, but are important on 

 account of their uses and products. The 

 plants themselves, with their hard, un- 

 yielding spiny leaves, form impenetrable 

 fences, and they are used for this purpose 

 in many parts. The roots as well as the 

 leaves of A. americana and some allied 

 species, especially the Pita plant, furnish a 

 fibre (pita thread) which is extremely 

 tough, and is useful for making twine and 

 rope, and for various other purposes, such 

 as paper-making. Humboldt describes a 

 bridpe of upwards of 130 feet span, over 

 the Chimbo in Quito, of which the main 

 ropes, four inches in diameter, were made 

 of agave fibre. The fibre is separated 

 by bruising the leaves, steeping them m 

 water, and afterwards beating them. 



The juice of the Agave leaves yields a 



