The genera of plants : a fragment containing part of Liriogamae / by Richard Anthony Salisbury.

  • Salisbury, R. A. (Richard Anthony), 1761-1829.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The genera of plants : a fragment containing part of Liriogamae / by Richard Anthony Salisbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    lanceolatae: marcescens. Fil amenta apice tubi inserta, crassa, lon- gissime exserta, subulata. Antherae longae. Stylus cylindricus, plus minus altitudine filamentorum. Stigma lobis brevissimis obo- vatis. Herbce inter Tropicos Americae, hodie in Sicilia, Promontorio Bonae Spei jus civitatis adeptce. Folia scepe glauca, 4-7-pedalia, in - rosam conferta, lineari-lanceolata, margine spinosa,planiuscula, dura, carnosa, usque ad florescentiam perennia. Flores virides, erecti, nunc fcetidissimi. Panicula oblonga. Pedunculus 14-30-pedalis; basi crassitie femoris, ramis protensis, apice densissime florigeris. Pedi- celli plus minus secundi, apice articulati. Bractece 1-rice. Species 5. A. Americana L. Yivipara L. Flaccida Haw. Lurida Mill. fig. in Bot. Mag. No. 1522. Pyramidalis MS. quce Lurida Jacq. Coll. 4. p. 94. t. 1. Agavece constitute a strictly natural Groupe, though their Flowers differ so remarkably in structure and the Pericarpium varies in | being more or less inferum; but their Habit is similar, those which are herbaceous having radical Leaves spreading into a Rose; and I a terminal Spike or Panicle is common to all, after producing which | the Stem either dies down to the ground, or sends out 2 or 3 branches near the Top. Yucca, of which many Species may now be seen in i the gardens about London, has pendulous Flowers of 6 distinct | Petals, like Fourcroya, but differs both from that and all other I Genera of the Order, in its Pericarpium almost quite superum. | Fourcroya has been most justly detached by Ventenat, having pen- dulous Flowers, 6 distinct Petals, and very thick broad Filaments. ] Littea is also unquestionably a legitimate Genus, though Mr. J. | B. Ker in the translation of Signor Tagliabue’s paper published in ! 2nd volume of Brande’s Journal of Science, has joined it to Agave; its Leaves are vertically 4-gonous, rather wider than deep, with j sharp margins especially the two lateral ones, and long Filaments j split off from these as in several Yuccas; in Inflorescence it approaches ; Polianthes, its Flowers being in pairs, but they are far more nume- rous ; and in its deciduous corolla it differs from every Plant of the j Order yet discovered. Polianthes, which is probably indigenous in Mexico, has herbaceous narrowly lorate Leaves, decaying in winter and pushing out in spring; with a long Spike of Flowers in pairs, which are so exceedingly fragrant during the night, that it is called Soondal Madam by the Malays, and cultivated in most civilized parts | of the Globe. The next Genus, Manfreda, is so named after an ancient writer on Simples, whose work is in the Parisian Library; this Plant has a great look of some Aloes, especially when its Leaves I are spotted, differing essentially from Agave in its simple Spike of Flowers with 2 Bractes to each; a more tubular Corolla curved upwards; and a very broad Stigma, the Lobes of which are so retuse, that it appears at first to be equally 6-lobed. Agave lastly contains some of the largest and most useful vegetables in existence, but I i cannot perceive so very close an affinity in it to Aloe, as Mr. Yuttal mentions in his valuable work on the Plants of North America; his words are “ a Genus scarcely differing generically from Aloe, except \ in the situation of the Capsule, which is inferior.” Here like the