MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
to 50 mm. long, brown ; marginal prickles brown, deltoid- 
cuspidate, unequal; scape 8 to 12 m. high, with 20 to 40 
branches; flowers 75 to 90 mm. long; segments 25 to 30 
mm. long, yellowish; filaments inserted above middle of 
tube, twice as long as segments; capsule oblong, 5 cm. 
long.— Sp. PL (1753) 323 ; Jacobi, Monogr. 5; Terr. 
Monogr. 45; Baker, Amarjllideae, 180; Danielli in Nuov. 
Giom. Bot. Ital. srvii. 49 to 138.— This handsome and 
useful* species is said to have become spontaneous at a few 
places in Southern Texas. Mr. Nealley reports it as being 
abundant between San Antonio and Eagle Pass, among 
Chapparal. Professor Rolfs states that it flourishes and 
blooms in Florida without protection, as far north as Eustis 
in Lake County, and at Braidentown on the East coast. 
With protection it has bloomed at Jacksonville. It appears 
to stand the frost better than the other Agaves found in 
Florida, excepting of course the A. Virginica, which is 
reported only from the northern part of the State. Dr. 
Havard recommends its eultivatiouj for the manufacture 
of fiber, pulque and mescal. This is the species commonly 
called Maguay and Century Plant. 
The central pith (pita) of ^Maguay stalks is very commonly 
used by entomologists for lining their insect boxes. Hum- 
boldt states t that next to maize and potato this plant is the 
most useful of all the productions which nature has supplied 
to the mountaineers of tropical America. He mentions its 
use for fiber, pulque, and mescal, and also states that the 
juice {xugo de cocumyza) of immature plants i^ very acrid 
and is successfully employed as a caustic in the cleaning of 
wounds. The prickles which terminate the leaves served 
formerly for pins and nails to the Indians- The Mexican 
priests pierced their flesh with them in their acts of expia- 
tion. He says that the ancient Aztecs macerated the leaves 
* See section " Economic U?es " in preliminary portion of tliis paper. 
t Proceedings U. S. National Museum, l«8o, 519. 
X Essai Politique sur la Noaveile E.spagne (Paris, 1811), torn. ii. 413 
