:G 
sistent pedicels, bearing one or two small bracts. The i nflores- | is iu r 
cence itself shows three different forms, and, accor ding to these ," ^er. if 1 <>( 
the numerous species of this genus naturally are distributed in . ^ j aC obi (A®* P’ 
three different sections. - 1 f ^ to be termdt' ^ 
The first section, SinguliflorcB^ to which our A. Virginicd er 
belongs, bears single flowers in a simple, generally slender spike es.<*-*» 
each flower ? 
never crowded as the spikes of the next section are ; eacn ttower r_ .^ oreS ccnce, 
is borne in the axil of a bract on a short pedicel, which is distin- ' flowers are i 
guished by a single lateral bractlet. This bractlet is normally L \\y.wc ’ ■ 1 
sterile, but in monstrous inflorescences may produce secondary A ^ development 
and tertiary flowers, which, however, can always be distinguished 
fro mi those of the next section by 
the flowers seem w 
ver appearing m pairs. 
The second section, Geminijlorte (gen. Littaza, Tagliab., ^ a t l: 
vafiartea, Willd., non Ruiz & Pav.), comprises the SDecies wftich^ eir P Ul ’ 
R together. 
and tertiary 
md a 
that the 
lovers of the Agaves 
h, yellowish, or brow 
urti),ox orange {A 
i fary, bearing the 
the species which 
produce flowers in pairs, crowded info a more or less dense spike. 
From the axil of each primary bract a short or rarely longe^je.g. 
A. Utahensis) peduncle originates, bearing two opposite lateral 
bracts (sometimes pushed somewhat towards the main axis)! and 
in their axils the flowers on two -short (rarely, e.g. in A. utte- 
nuata , Hort. Cels. Paris,. 1869, longer) secondary pedicels,with 
bractlets of the third order directed towards the primary bract. 
These' bractlets occasionally bear a second pair of flowers with 
lateral bractlets of the fourth order, directed inward, and in thqfcperigonal tube, sti 
axils-;of these occasionally (A. attenuata) rudimentary flower- ^hort, campanulate 
buds are seen. An internal perigonal lobe of the flowers of ther fejkped, or even cy 
primary pair is directed backwards and outwards, towards the Abes form two tvime 
margin of the primary bract, and an external lobe towards the : ; ie thicker extern 
bractlet. In rare instances the primary peduncle does not ter- y inso f interior < 
part free. The 
■pengon. 
with the 1 
« l0 5 e 
r bears a second flower on a similarly bracted pedicel; this secon<| V® including the fil^ 
1 the dorsal (towards the principal bract) or on the ventral (towards. , ^rhened. 5 
the little inflorescence; a third flower, if present, is not coeval npr ® ™ eS tlUCkene 
one, but later and higher up, and usually on the upper or inner sid* I 1 are erect Or patlU< 
' " j fr* stamens are 
arked that the flower of the SinguliJ . T'f — 
xternal lobe of the perigon -^fld one / r Some forms are describe 
ards the bract, and an internal lobe and the commissure of the Jacobi, v 
ie axis. That abnormal stock, however, produces sometimes towardl ^^p ^^^ . are sa id t‘ 
>wers without a pedicel and without a lateral bractlet.; in these with a gi 
carpel are" turned towards the-axis. A that in futu 
rimary flowe: 
0 1 2 3 4 5 . 6 7 8 9 10 Missouri 
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