AGAVES OF THE UNITED STATP:S. 
93 
i- vorv interestinjT. After the blossom> I)oixin to withoi- 
into small ])hmU. AfU r iittaiiMiiir a m/,- of from thrco to 
tt'ii inches, tlu'v fall to thi' izrouiid mikI take root. Thoy 
plants, in .'ultivation. tliev an> miu li u^vd for phintinsj. 
A single tlovverin- .talk (polo or niaM ) ^^\\\ ho:u- fmui one 
to two thousand p-.U- plaMt>: a^ many a-^ tuenlv-tiv,. hun- 
dred have been n-p..rted. The .-peiie^ i> ^aid to have 
.pread over the Ke \ ^ by nioau>> of l>iuU from the poles 
beinof driven l)V the currents of air and water. 
This Agave' matures in from sIk to .. .. n vear^. By 
cutting its leaves, the period of poliiiL' i- rctanhd. and the 
>'i/e and productiveness of the pole is le>>eni'd. It- average 
life in Florida is twelve years. 
It is a question whether this variety can be divided into 
two forms which grow independently. Mr. Dodge* speaks 
of a distinctly spined form growing in some places, and 
the common smooth-leaved form in others. He also quotes 
from those who assert that both forms may be found on a 
single pole, and that a plant is sometimes found whose 
leaves are spiny-edged on one margin and entire on the 
other. In Yucatan the plant bears spines, and it is said 
that the influence of soil and climate tend to protluce the 
smooth-leaved form from the other. The shortly spinodt 
form is invariably shorter-leaved and sto(;kier, and the 
smooth-leaved form spreads nmch tho. faster. 
A. DECiPiENS Baker. — Trunk 10 to 15 dm. long, 
clothed with the old recurved leaves; young leaves 
erect and ascending, mature ones spreading, becoming 
more and more reflexed, old ones recurved: tleshy 
leaf-bases clasping the considerably elongated axis and 
giving it a swollen and spindle-like effect: leaves usually 
* Eeport of 1893, p. 23. 
t Dodge, Eeport of 1891, p. 14. 
