AMARYLLIDACEiE. 



43 



flowers are over the bulbs should be dried, and replanted in 

 July ; but it is better to procure fresh bulbs at this season, 

 as in this country they do not become mature, and generally 

 fail to flower a second time. 



AGAVE. 



Gen. Char. (Hexandria Monogynia.) Mower erect, tubular or 

 funnel-shaped ; filaments erect, longer than the flower ; capsule 

 triangular, many-seeded. 



The word means admArahle, and is particularly applicable 

 to this noble genus of plants : they are natives of America 

 within the tropics. A. Americana is erroneously called the 

 American Aloe, but the Aloes belong to the Order Liliacece, 

 This is a well-known species, and very attractive when in 

 flower, the stem being then often more than twenty feet in 

 height, and its numerous branches bearing large bunches of 

 greenish-yellow flowers. It is said only to flower once in a 

 hundred years ; but this is a mistake, the truth being that 

 the plant flowers but once, but the period may be hastened 

 by culture. It has been introduced into this country more 

 than two hundred years. One specimen was in bloom in 

 1849, in the Apothecaries' Garden at Chelsea, its age not 



