46 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



the tout eusemble presenting a particularly marked form of plant. In their manner 

 of poling we find the only similarity between the two. and this doubtless has caused 

 the expensive mistake so often made by those collecting sisal plants, and through 

 which ship loads have bees taken from Florida to the Bahamas in past time. Dr. 

 Baker even says : "I can not make out any material difference between the flowers of 

 the two species." The poling is not only similar, hut the young pole plants are 

 similar, though I soon learned to detect a difference in the stockier appearance of the 

 dtcipiens. But when once fixed in the soil the identity of the species is soon brought 

 out in a marked manner. Fig. 9 is an old plant growing at Lake Worth, Florida. 



Coming to the fiber, we find the strongest mark of difference between the two 

 forms of fiber plants. In decipiens it is whiter, finer, softer, and greatly deficient in 

 strength, though it approaches nearer the appearance of the true sisal fiber than 

 that of any of the allied Agaves not varieties of the A. rigida known commercially. 



A. decipiens is always most abundant iu the wilds, as on uniuhabited keys, where 

 A. sisalana is never found. It is a singular fact, however, that in the Lake Worth 

 region it changes its form somewhat, the leaves being longer and often flattened 

 (sometimes perfectly flat . but always provided with the footstalks and armed with 



the terrible spines. For 

 further accounts see 

 Fib.Inv. Kept. 5, p. -28; 

 Kew Bull., 1892, p. 183. 



*S2)ecimens. — W.C. E., 

 United States Govern- 

 ment exhibit: Mus. U. 

 S. Dept. Ag. ; Field Col. 

 Mus., Chicago. 



Agave deserti. 



This species, discov- 

 eredby Lieutenant Em- 

 ory in 1846, is found at 

 the base of the coast 

 range in San Diego 

 County. Cal., extending 

 into the adjoining des- 

 ert. vSee fig. 10.) 



Structural Fiber. — 

 ■• This species has very 

 fibrous leaves; is used 



for ropes, mats, nets, etc., and even for sewing thread/' (Dr. V. Havard.) 



Specimens of the fiber, and rope made from it by the Calif orni i Indians, collected 



by Dr. Edward Palmer, are in the U. S. Nat. Mus. The fiber is very harsh, but 



strong and durable. 



Agave heteracantha. Lechuguilla. Mexican Fiber. 



Endogen. AmaryllidacecB. Low aloe-like leaf cluster. 



Native names.— telle or Ixtle (Mex.); Tampico hemp, the commercial name. 



Found in Mexico, southwestern Texas, and southern California. ''The various 

 plants from which istle is extracted are found at i^resent chiefly on the plains and 

 rugged mountain slopes of the States of Coahuila. Tamaulipas, Nnevo Leon, and 

 San Luis Potosi. The central towns for the trade in the several States are: In 

 Coahuila. Saltillo; in Nnevo Leon. Monterey: in Tamaulipas, Jaumava, Tula, Tam- 

 pico, and formerly Matamoras; in San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi." (Kew Bull., 

 Oct., 1890.) Fig. 2, PL I, represents a plant of this species growing in the United 

 States Botanic Garden. 



STRUCTURAL FIBER, — Derived from the leaves; stiff, harsh, but pliant, bristle-like. 



Fig. 10.— Plant of Agave deserti. 



