- 2 7 — 
0 
f the Pacific! 
boundary iiB 
growing to® 
>r. Parry ioR 
ada Messrs®; 
few months 1|; 
graphs and 
cted it with 
gentlemen 
ouis. Thislfe 
is the short history of a remarkable Species, which will flourish, 
highly esteemed by arrjateurs as one of the' most striking and 
beautiful Agaves, and commemorate, among all who love horti¬ 
culture in other climes, the name of Henry Shaw, already so 
pighly esteemed in St.Jbouis as the‘founder and donbf of the 
Missouri Botanical Gardens,” grand at present, and promising 
a future as useful as it will be magnificent. 
he trunk of this species is short and globose or more elon¬ 
gated, 8-12 inches long, but all covered with its very regularly 
(in t 8 ¥ ) arranged, broad, deep green leaves, forming masses nearly 
2 feet in diameter, set off by the large, bright, red-brown spines. 
Leaves 8-io inches long, 3^-42- wide, with a distinct brown 
horny margin, which bears the unusually large, very close-set, 
flat spiny teeth, straight, or mostly curved up or rarely down¬ 
wards,or flexuous, the largest (near the middle) 6 lines long and 
half as broad ; in old leaves the margin with a few of the spines 
adhering, is often partially detached, but not as regularly as e.g. 
in A. keteracantha. The stalk, 2-2£ inches thick, 8-12 feet 
high, is almost entirely covered vdth large (4-5 inches long by 2 
wide) triangular bracts, foliaceous with brown scarious margins 
and tipped with a spine. The branches of the broad oval pani¬ 
cle are very stout (4—8 or 9 inches long, 1—ii thick) flattened 
above, and bear at the end a most compact cluster of 30-50 flow¬ 
ers surrounded by large foliaceous fleshy bracts, 1-2 inches wide, 
2-3 long, which form a sort of involucre ; the whole, after the 
flowers have fallen and only the short truncate closely-packed 
pedicels,are seen, interspersed with subulate bracts, 1—2 inches in 
length, simulates the receptacle of some large Composita, 2-3 
inches in diameter. 
; | Flowers 3-3 £ inches long, greenish-yellow ; prismatic ovary 
ii-rf, perigon 1J-2 inches long, tube outside 8-9, inside 6-^7 lines 
long, lobes 12-14 lines long, outer a little longer and 3i, inner 
shorter, 4 lines wide. Stamens, inserted in the middle of the tube, 
only about \ inch longer than perigon; anthers 14 lines long; 
pollen grains oval, 0.09-0.12 mm. in longest diameter, beautifully 
marked. ' Style/ in the numerous specimens before me, curved 
ewhat obstructed, hbv 
penetrates the style to near its base, v 
;avity is divided into three tubes, which 1 
ever, about the neck of the ovary by loos< 
rhere, by salient angle; 
u=u 
0 1 2 3 4 5 . 6 7 8 9 10 ™ 
cm copyright reserved g 
