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Furcraea (Named in honour of A F)

(named in honour of A. F. Fourcroy, 1755-1809, a celebrated French chemist). SYN. Foureroya. ORD. Amaryllidae. A genus of about fifteen species of very noble greenhouse or stove plants, closely allied to Agave, but with horizontally spreading perianth segments. For culture, &c., see Agave. F. Bedinghausii (Bedinghausen's).* fl. greenish; scape 12ft. to 15ft.high; branches drooping. l. thirty to fifty in a resette, lanceolate, about 3ft. long; margin minutely denticulate. Trunk 3ft. high. Mexico, 1860. SYNS Roezlia regia, Yucca argyrophlla, Y. parmentieri, Y. Toneliana. F. cubensis (Cuban).* fl. greenish. Autumn. l. twenty-five to thirty in a rosette, bright green, rigid in texture channelled and smooth down the face, generally scaprous on the back, the end a minute brown, scarcely pungent point; edge armed with regular hooked brown prickles. Tropical America, 1879. One of the commonest and best known of all the species. F. c. inermis (unarmed). This plant differs from the ordinary F. cubensis by its less rigid leaves, and by the total or almost entire suppression o the marginal teeth, which in the type are very close and large, and armed with pungent horny brown spines. Tropical America. (B. M. 6543.) F. elegans (elegant).* fl., greenish-white; scape 20ft. to 25ft.high. l. forty to fifty in a rosette, lanceolate, 5ft. to 6ft. long; prickles brown, hooked horny. Mexico, 1868. Plant stemless. SYNS. F. Ghiesbreghtii, F. pugioniformis. F. flavo-virdis (yellow-green). fl. perianth pale yellowish-green; tube incorporated with the obtusely tringular ovary; scape 12ft. to 14ft. high, naked below, but bracteated above, forming a long, loose, racemose panicle. l. radical more or less spreading, and somewhat tortuose, lanceolate, pungently acumiate, spinulose at the margin. h. 14ft. Mexico, 1846. (B. M. 5163.) F. foetida (foetid). A synonym of F. gigantea.

F. Ghiesbreghtii ( Ghiesbregt's). A synonym of F. elegans. F. gigantea (gigantic).* fl. milk-white inside, greenish on the back outside; scape 20ft. to 30ft. high., l. forty to fifty in a dense rosette, lanceolate, 4ft. to 6ft. long; margin usually entire. Trunk 2ft. to 4ft. high. South America, 1690. SYN. F. foetida.

F. longaeva (long-lived).* fl. whitish; scape 30ft. to 40ft. long; branches spreading, compound. l. numerous, in a dense rosette, lanceolate, 4ft. to 5ft. long. Trunk about 3ft. to 4ft., but, in a wild state, said to reach 40ft. to 50ft. in height. Mexico, 1833. This is probably the handsomest species of the genus; it is perfectly hardy in the open at the Scilly Isles, where it has frequently flowered. (B. M. 5519.) F. pugioniformis (dagger-shaped). A synonym of F. elegans. F. Selloa (Sello's). fl. white, tinged with green; scape 15ft. to 16ft. long; panicle 3ft. broad. l. thirty to forty in a dense rosette, lanceolate, 3ft. to 4ft. long; margin with upcurved brown spines about 1/4in. long. Trunk none or scarcely any. (B. M. 6148.) F. undulata (waved).* fl. all drooping, usually in pairs; perianth pale green; segments narrow-oblong, obtuse, obtusely keeled down the centre. November. l. forming a flat crown 3in. in diameter, not very numerous, strict, spreading, thick, ensiform, long acuminate, terminated by a pungent chestnut-brown spine, obscurely keeled at the back, which is scabrid; margin sub-undulate, with incurved chestnut-coloured stout spines. Stem none, or very short. h. 10ft. Mexico, 1868. (B. M. 6160.)