YUCCA. 



253 



ate, plicate, with fine, long, and rather straight, 

 thin, marginal fibres except in some threadless 

 garden forms. Panicle mostly pubescent. Ma- 

 turing capsule dull greyish-green, carpels va- 

 riously and irregularly flattened in places, as if 

 shaved off with a knife ; when ripe, broad, con- 

 stricted and mostly flaring above : seeds dull, 

 larger. North Carolina and Alabama in and 

 near the mountains. Occasional simple racemes 

 are produced from small lateral crowns, when 

 the main crown is in bloom. 



Varieties : orchioides, a garden form with 

 stiffer, more erect, nearly threadless leaves, and 

 racemose inflorescence : g/aucescens, a more 

 glaucous form with leaves mostly broader and 

 erect until a later period, almost tomentose 

 panicle, and more attenuate petals; — the com- 

 mon form of American gardens : lineata, a gar- 

 den sport apparently of var. glaucescens, but in 

 habit like Y. jilamentosa media, having the young 

 leaves striped with dingy white, soon fading 

 for the most part. Doubtless it is this by which 

 the variegated form of T. Jilamentosa is often 

 represented in gardens : grandi flora, a large gla- 

 brousform of var. glaucescens: Integra, a narrow- 

 leaved glabrous form of var. exigua : exigua, a 

 garden form of glaucescens, but without mar- 

 ginal threads and possibly a cross of recurvi- 

 f olia. These filiferous-leaved " bear grasses " 

 of the south-eastern Atlantic States are not 

 easily disposed of in an attempt to monograph 

 the genus, partly because they are commoner 

 in cultivation than wild, partly because of 

 their inter-blending characters, and partly be- 

 cause of faulty earlier descriptions. One of 

 this group (probably true T. Jilamentosa) was 

 introduced into Europe about 1675, and was 

 one of the four Yuccas known to Linnaeus a 

 century later. 



T. tenuistyla (Trelease). — Acaulescent. 

 Leaves rather soft, recurving, often a little sca- 

 brid on the back about 1 8 inches long and half 

 to three-quarter inch wide, dark green, lanceo- 

 late, long attenuate, scarcely pungent, white- 

 margined, finely filiferous. Inflorescence about 

 3 feet high, panicled at some distance above the 

 leaves, glabrous or slightly puberulent. Flowers 

 with narrower more pointed segments : style 

 oblong, white, often deeply parted. Capsule 

 stout, even : seeds glossy. South-eastern Texas, 

 in part associated with T. arkansana, which 

 it closely resembles in foliage. These forms, 



with T. Louisianensis, comprise the grass-leaved 

 Yuccas of eastern Texas. 



T. constricta (Buckley). — Low or acaules- 

 cent. Leaves rather rigidly divergent, about 

 half an inch wide, whitish green, the white 

 margin soon shredding into fine threads. In- 

 florescence 4 to 4 \ feet, rather amply branched 

 at top. Flowers white, globose-campanulate, 

 with broad segments : style white, more or less 

 tumid. Capsule constricted, flaring above, dark, 

 with a ridge over each false septum. Seward 

 County, Kansas, to the Pecos river region of 

 Texas. I should say that this is quite distinct 

 from both the preceding and the next species, 

 differing from the former in its narrower, firmer 

 leaves, and more ample inflorescence, and from 

 the latter in its usually short stem, smaller 

 capsules, and much smaller seeds. 



T. radiosa (Engelmann). — Caulescent, 

 large trees reaching 15 to 20 feet, simple or 

 with a few short branches at top. Leaves pal- 

 lid, rigidly divergent, long, white margined 

 and copiously filiferous. Inflorescence large, on 

 a long exserted peduncle, glabrous. Flowers 

 white, bell-shaped, with lanceolate attenuate 

 segments: style white, oblong. Capsule oblong, 

 smooth, not or rarely constricted, with ribless 

 convex valves, straw coloured : seeds rather 

 dull. Southern Arizona to the Rio Grande. As 

 in T. glauca, the fruit of this species is stout, 

 oblong, and the seeds are exceptionally large. 

 The leaves, usually about a quarter of an inch 

 wide, vary from one-eighth to as much as half 

 an inch, but broad and narrow-leaved trees 

 occur in close association. 



T. angustissima (Engelmann). — Acaules- 

 cent, from thick horizontalroot-stocks. Leaves 

 one-tenth to quarter of an inch wide and 8 

 to 18 inches long, pungent, white bordered, 

 and very freely filiferous below. The inflores- 

 cence glabrous, 3 to 4^ feet high, racemose 

 or short-branched below. Perianth segments 

 rather short, mostly acutely lanceolate. Cap- 

 sule scarcely exceeding 2 inches in length, 

 rough brown, constricted, with a median rib 

 on each valve : seeds glossy. South-western 

 Utah, south-eastern Nevada, and north-wes- 

 tern Arizona, in the region of the Colorado 

 river. 



T. Harrimania (Trelease). — Acaulescent, 

 often cespitose. Leaves linear to spatulate- 

 lanceolate, quarter to three-quarter or even 



