AGLAIA 
227 
Fruit lomentose in some sp. ; in others, e.g. A. heterocai'pa J. Gay, 
there are two kinds of fruit, one many-seeded and dehiscent, the other 
one-seeded indehiscent. 
Aethusa Linn. Umbelliferae (6). 1 sp. A. Cynapium L. Brit. Eur. 
(fool’s parsley). 
Afzelia Sm. ( Intsia Thou.) Leguminosae (11. 3). 8 sp. trop. As. 
Afr. 
Agapanthus L’Herit. Liliaceae (iv). 3sp. S. Afr. A. umbellatus L’H. 
is common in gardens. Infl. a cymose umbel. Seeds winged. 
Agapetes G. Don. Ericaceae (111. 8). 30 sp. Nepal to Australia. 
Agathaea Cass. = Felicia Cass. United to Aster. 
Agathis Salisb. (Dammara Lam.) Coniferae (Arauc. ia; see C. for 
genus characters). 4 sp. Malay to N. Z. Evergreen dioecious trees : 
the fruit takes two years to ripen. A. Dammara Rich. ( D . orientalis 
Lamb.), in Malay and Phil. Is., yields a Dammar- resin largely used 
in varnish-making, &c. A . australis Steud. in Austr. and N. Z., 
is the Kauri or Cowrie pine, yielding a similar resin (Kauri-copal or 
dammar) ; the best pieces are dug out of the soil, often at a distance 
from any trees now living. 
Agathosma Willd. Rutaceae (iv). 100 sp. S. Afr. 
Agave Linn. Amaryllidaceae (11). 50 sp. trop. Am. The so-called 
Century plant or American Aloe (A. americana L.) is the most 
familiar sp. There is a short stem, which grows in thickness in a 
similar manner to the stem of Yucca, bearing a rosette of large 
fleshy leaves, coated on the surface with wax. Only two or three of 
these are formed in a year. During a period of from five to 100 
or more years, depending on climate, the richness of the soil, &c. the 
plant is purely vegetative, and stores up in these leaves an enormous 
mass of reserve materials. At length it flowers, a gigantic terminal 
infl. coming rapidly out, sometimes reaching a height of 20 feet, and 
bearing many flowers. When the berries are ripe the reserves are 
exhausted, and the plant dies; it is thus an “annual” in a sense. 
The rush of sap to so large and so rapidly developed an inflorescence 
is of course very great; the Mexicans utilise it by cutting off the young 
flower head and collecting the sap (as much as 1000 litres have been 
got from one plant). The fermented juice is the national drink 
“pulque.” The plant is also useful in many other ways, yielding 
fibre, &c. A. rigida Mill, yields the fibre “Sisal hemp,” now largely 
used in rope making. 
Vegetative reproduction occurs in two ways — by suckers from the 
base of the stem, and by bulbil-formation in place of some of the 
flowers. 
Ageratum Linn. Compositae (11). 30 sp. trop., all but one Amer. 
Aggregatae Engler. The 8th cohort of Dicot. Sympet. (see p. 13 1). 
Ditto Eichler (Warming). The 10th cohort of Sympet. (see p. 138). 
Aglaia Lour. Meliaceae. 60 sp. Ind. to Austral. 
