26 



The Plant World. 



These plants form one of the most conspicuous features of 

 the vegetation, in fact over certain areas one or another of them 

 constitutes a conspicuous element in the landscape. On the 

 long, gentle slopes at the foot of the mountain ranges, palma 

 china is found in great profusion; higher up on the slopes and 

 over broad areas of rolling land palma zamandoca holds undis- 

 puted sway. Lechuguilla is mostly confined to low rocky 

 ridges and foothills adjacent to the higher mountains and in 

 such places it thrives in such abundance that it is often difficult 

 to make one's way through it. The leaves, which range in 

 length from twelve to eighteen inches, are beset with strong ter- 

 minal and lateral spines against which ordinary shoe-leather is 

 scant protection. In many places palma zamandoca may be 

 found enjoying the same habitat with lechuguilla, but its range is 

 somewhat wider, reaching from the lower ridges to far up the 

 mountain slopes between 7,000 and 8,000 feet. The straight 

 unbranched stems of these plants, with their crowns of stiff 

 sword-like leaves, two feet or more in length, raised above the 

 surrounding vegetation, make a picture at once striking and 

 attractive. 



The maguey {A. asperrima) is less restricted in its range 

 than either of the foregoing forms. While its favorite habitat 

 is the broad foot-slope or the level mesa, it is found frequently 

 on the banks of arroyos or on the high mountain sides. Propa- 

 gating easily by stolons, like its relative the lechuguilla, it fre- 

 quently forms dense patches to the exclusion of almost every- 

 thing else. The maguey, as it grows in the desert here referred 

 to, produces rigid leaves which attain a length of three feet, 

 more or less. The cultivated varieties grow much larger. 



Much interest attaches to the plants here under considera- 

 tion because of their economic importance, especially the palma 

 zamandoca and lechuguilla. Palma china produces fiber but 

 is very little used, presumably owing to the shortness of the 

 leaves and the abundance of the more desirable form. An 

 excellent quality of fiber is obtained from the maguey, but the 

 wild plants do not afford sufficient compensation for the labor 

 of extracting it, and the plants under cultivation are raised 

 chiefly for the sake of pulque and mescal. So the maguey in 

 central and northern Mexico, at least, is of secondary importance 

 as far as fiber is concerned; palma zamandoca and lechuguilla 



