2 



3) The third type, the one I alerted you to, is the Agave Verschaffelti, of which I also send you a 

 drawing, made one year ago by one of my colleagues. It always has a very narrow panicle, and in 

 general, many less flowers than what is seen in the previous types. The secondary branches are 1 

 or 2 inches long ( 3 to 6 cms.); at their end they give birth to extremely short tertiary branches 

 (appprox. 1 cms. sometimes less).It is rare that the secondary branches, ( those in the middle of 

 the inflorescence), are not more than 10 cms. in length. This shortness of the branches, compared 

 to the height of the floral shaft ( approx. 2 meters), gives the florescence an appearance of a 

 woolly tuft 



The 2 shafts of the Agave macrocantha that I saw, one 2 meters and the other 1 meter in height, 

 where at their base as thick as a thumb or an index finger and in the middle the thickness of a 

 small finger and higher up even thinner; rare small and deciduous branches, approximately 12 in 

 number with a median length of 4 cms., dividing into 3 tertiary branches one cm. in length with 

 2 or 3 flowers. The flowers had already fallen off at the time of my visit (1874); there where no 

 fruits or buds, giving the stems a smooth appearance. 



Among the Agave V er schaffeit i that flowered in 1876, one shaft reached a height of 1,80 meters 

 and the other 2 m. These 2 have a 10 cms. circumference at the bottom of the shaft and 6 cms. in 

 the middle. They are very similar in their florescence and their appearance. The shafts are 

 higher than 6 meters with a lower circumference of 19 cms.The shorter ones are only 2-3 

 cms.On the larger specimen, the longest secondary branches ( that is to say those in the middle 

 of the florescense) are not longer than 8 to 10 cms.The 6 meter high specimens, are a little 

 longer proportionaly, but their height did not allow me to measure the secondary branches. In 

 general the small branches of the shaft are deciduous and eventually they become smooth. 



I consider the Agave Verchaffelti like a smaller type of the Agave potatorum Zucc. One fmds in 

 the garden many samples labeled as Agave amoena or elegans, that are evidently varieties of the 

 Verschaffelti. 



It is unfortunately difficult to reassure oneself of the authenticity of the Agave potatorum from 

 our gardens; those that I have seen are larger forms of Verschaffelti; the scolymus from Lyon is 

 even larger and is close to the largest Agaves. The description of the inflorescence that I found at 

 Jacobi's also seems to indicate to me that their identity is close to the Agave Verschaffelti. This 

 last one is very common in all our collections. The smallest of the Agave Verschaffelti, whose 

 largest dimensions I have given to you, has produced in the last few weeks some sprouts that 

 grow from the ossicles of the smaller branches or from their end in the place of the fruits.One of 

 the large ones produces only one fruit. 



The gardener Mr. Goulain, who already has a large number of Agave Verschaffelti flowering, 

 told me that the shafts are fairly common in this species. I have never as many Agave 

 Verschaffelti as I saw in the indoor beds. Jacobi thinks they are Agave amoena. ! The plant 

 always dies after it blooms. In regards to this I would like to call your attention to the importance 









0 1 



cm 



2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 

 Copyright reserved 



Missouri 

 Botanical 

 Garden 



