in the root, we have no doubt that R. androgynus, and some other species which are now kept in the green-house, would live against a conservative wall, GENUS III. YU'CCA L. THE YUCCA, or ADAM'S NEEDLE. Lin. Syst. Hexándria Monogynia. Identification. Lin. Sp., 456.; Reich., 2. 83.; Willd., 2. 183.; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., 2. 291.; N. Description, &c. Low evergreen shrubs, with the habit of palm trees; natives of North and South America. In British gardens, most of the species are somewhat tender. They prefer a dry and deep sandy soil, or a sandy loam; and they are readily propagated by suckers, which are thrown up by the roots, or by side shoots, which are occasionally produced on the stem. They sometimes ripen seeds, which, if sown immediately after they are gathered, and placed on a moderate hot-bed, will come up in six weeks. In their native countries, their leaves, treated like the stalks of hemp or flax, afford a fibre which may be used like that of those plants, in the manufacture of cloth or cordage; and the stems, macerated in water, deposit a feculent matter, from which starch may be procured. In a floricultural point of view, all the species are highly ornamental; and no lawn or flower border ought to be without some of them. Considered with reference to landscape-gardening, the yucca, like other trees and shrubs of formal shapes and rigid habit, when planted in masses, cannot readily be made to harmonise with the masses surrounding it; but, as a single object, it is well adapted for attracting attention on a lawn, for the summit of a formal knoll, for growing out of rockwork, for ruins, and for various purposes of a similar nature. As the yucca grows naturally on the sea shore, it is particularly adapted for marine gardens. In imitating Italian scenery round an Italian villa, the yucca, planted in large vases, may be substituted for the agave. Plants, in the London nurseries, are from 2s. to 5s. each. 1. Y. GLORIO`SA L. The glorious Yucca, or Adam's Needle. Identification. Lin. Sp., 456.; Reich., 2. 83.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 183.; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., 2. p. 291.; Desf. Hist. des Arb., &c., 1. p. 17.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. Synonymes. Y. fòliis A'loes Bauh. Pin., 91.; Y. canadèna Ald. Hort. Par., 33.; Y. indica, &c., Barr. Rar., 70. t. 1194.; Y., or Yucca, peruana, Ger. Emac., 1543., Raii Hist., 1201., Park. Parad., 434. t. 435. f. 1.; Y. nòva gloriosa, &c., Lob. Adv., 2. p. 507.; Cordyline, &c., Roy Lugdb., 22.; the superb Yucca; Yucca nain, Bon Jard., 1837; Yucca à Feuilles entières, Fr.; prächtiger Yukka, Ger. Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 1260; and our fig. 2391. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves entire. (Willd.) A native of North America. Introduced in 1596, and flowering in July and August. Variety. Y. g. 2 foliis variegàtis Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, has the leaves variegated. Description, &c. This species has a stem, or trunk, about 2 ft. or 3 ft. high, clothed with leaves almost to the ground. The leaves are broad and stiff, but thin: they are of a very dark green, and end in a sharp black spine. The flowerstalk is generally about 3 ft. high, branching out on every side to a considerable distance; but the flowers are very wide asunder on the stalk. Sometimes the panicles of flowers spring at once from the centre of the leaves, without the intervention of a stalk. The flowers are bell-shaped, and hang downwards; and each petal is white within, but is marked with a purple stripe on the outside. They are scentless, appear from July to September, but are seldom succeeded by seeds in England. This yucca is a native of Virginia and Carolina, of Carthagena in New Spain, and of the West Indies; and, though a native of warm coun tries, it is perfectly hardy in the climate of London. It was first cultivated in England by Gerard, about 1592, who says: "This plant groweth in all the tract of the Indies, from the Magellane Straits unto the Cape of Florida, and in most of the islands of the Canibals, and others adjoining; from whence I had that plant brought me that groweth in my garden, by a servant of a learned and skilful apothecary of Excester named Mr. Thomas Edwards." Gerard supposed that the cazava, or Indian bread, was made from the root of this plant; but his commentator, Johnson, says that this was" wherein he most shewed his weaknesse, for that he doth confound it with the manibot, or true yuicca." Gerard also supposed that it was " a low herbe, consisting onely of leaves and roots. It hath neither stalks," he says, " flowers, nor fruit, that I can understand of others, or by experience of the plant itself, which hath grown in my garden four yeares together, and yet doth grow and prosper exceedingly." On this passage Johnson observes, that Gerard's plant, some few yeares after he had set forth his worke, flowered in his garden;" adding that he himself once saw a yucca in flower" in the garden of Mr. Wilmot, at Bow, but never since, though it hath been kept for sundry yeares in many other gardens, as with Mr. Parkinson and Mr. Tuggy." Respecting the plant in Gerard's garden" at Holborne, in the suburbs of London," Parkinson, in his Paradisus, p. 434., tells us that Gerard kept it till his death; after which " it perished with him who got it from his widow, intending to send it to his country house;" adding that Gerard sent a sucker of it to Robin, gardener to Henry IV. in Paris, which was the first seen in France. Michaux found it growing on the sea shore in Carolina. The fibres of the leaves are used by the Indians to make a kind of cloth, and also cords, which they use to fasten 66 their houses together, and to make their swinging beds, called hammocks. At Identification. Haworth Suppl., Plant. Suec., p. 35.; Bot. Reg., 1698. Engravings. Bot. Rep., t. 473.; Bot. Reg., t. 1698.; and our fig. 2592. 13. Y. ALOÏFO'LIA L. The Aloe-leaved Yucca, or Adam's Needle. Identification. Lin. Sp., 457.; Reich., 2. 83.; Willd., 2. 184.; Mart. Mill., 2.; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., 2. p. 291.; Desf. Hist. des Arb., &c., 1. p. 18.; N. Du Ham., 3. p. 146.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836; Bon Jard., 1837. Synonymes. Y. arboréscens, &c., Dill. Elth., 435.; Aloe Yucca foliis, cauléscens, Pluk. Alm., 19., A. americana Yucca foliis, arborescens, Com. Præl., 64.; Y. cauléscens, foliis lineari-lanceolatis, &c., Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 5. p. 196. Engravings. Dil. Elth., t. $23. f. 416.; Pluk. Alm., t. 256. f. 4.; Comm. Præl., t. 14.; Bot. Mag., t. 1700.; and our fig. 2393. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves crenulate, stiff. (Willd.) A native of South America. Introduced before 1696, and flowering in August and September. Variety. Y. a. 2 pendula Cat. Hort. Par., p. 24., N. Du Ham., iii. p. 147., Bon Description, &c. A remarkable palm-like tree, with a thick tough stem or trunk, 10 ft. or 12 ft. high, crowned with a head or tuft of stiff, narrow, light green leaves, the edges of which are slightly serrated, and the points ending in sharp, strong, very hard spines. The flower-stalk rises from the centre of the leaves, and is 2 ft. or 3 ft. high, branching out so as to form a pyramid. The flowers grow close to the branches, and form a regular spike they are purplish without and white within. When the flowers have dropped, the head from which they sprang dies; but, generally, one or two young heads come out from the side of the stalk, below the old head. This species is rather more tender than Y. gloriosa. It is a native of South America, and was cultivated before 1696, in the Royal Gardens at Hampton Court. Fig. 2394. is a portrait of a plant, or rather tree, of Y. aloïfòlia, growing in the gardens at Adare, which was taken in October, 1837, and kindly sent to us by the Countess Dunraven. The plant meaşures 28 ft. in height; the circumference of the trunk, at 10 ft. from the ground, is 17 in.; and, at the height of 20 ft., it divides into six massy branches, each terminating in a pyramid of flowers. In the figure, only four of these branches are exhibited, this being the greatest number that could be seen at one time from any one point of view. It is supposed to have been planted upwards of 40 years, and appears, from the drooping habit of the leaves, to be the variety Y. a. péndula. It is the finest specimen of Yucca that we have had any account of, either at home or abroad. this variety and of the species, in the Horticultural Epsom Nursery, and at Messrs. Loddiges's. There are plants, both of 14. Y. DRACO NIS L. The Dragon Yucca, or drooping-leaved Adam's Needle. Identification. Lin. Sp., 457.; Reich., 2. p. 84.; Willd., 2. 184.; Mart. Mill., No. 3.; Ait. Hort Kew., ed. 2., 2. p. 291.; Desf. Hist. des Arb. et Arbriss., 1. p. 18.; Ham. Supp., p. 33.; Elliot Fl. S. Car., 1. 401.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836; Bon Jard., ed. 1837. Synonymes. Y. draconis folio serràto refléxo Dill. Elth., 437., Com. Præl., 42. 67.; Draconi árbori, &c., Bauh. Pin., 506.; Tacóri folio Draconi árboris simili Bauh. Hist. Engravings. Dill. Elth., 324. 117.; Bot. Reg., t. 1894. ; and our fig. 2395. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves crenated, nodding. (Willd.) Native of South Carolina. Introduced in 1732, and flowering in October and November. Description, &c. Stem rising to the height of 3 ft. or 4 ft. Leaves narrow, dark green, hanging down, serrated, and ending in acute spines. Flowers pendulous, milk-white, with a strong unpleasant smell. Gærtner describes the fruit as a fleshy oblong berry, contracted at the top, with a narrow aperture between the sessile stigmas; obscurely 6-cornered and 6-celled; cuticle very thin, not separating; pulp firm, of a dark dusky blood-red colour; three of the partitions thicker than the other three, all longitudinal : between these are transverse, membranaceous, very thin, white diaphragms, forming partial cells for each of the seeds. Receptacle none, except the central angle of the cells, to which the seeds are fastened horizontally in a single longitudinal row. Seeds numerous, spherically triangular; flattish on both sides, dark, but not shining. This species is a native of South Carolina, whence Miller received the seeds under the name of oilseed. It had, however, been previously introduced into Europe; and it flowered in August, 1729, at Hamburg, in the garden of M. Von Sprekelsen. The plant was 20 years old, with a trunk 8 ft. high, and the flower-stem was 2 ft. 6 in. long. The flowers were white, and about 150 in a thyrse. The seed-vessel was 3-celled; and the seeds were horny, wrinkled, and blackish when ripe. Y. draconis, says Dr. Lindley, in the Botanical Register for September, 1836, "is one of the most stately species of the genus. It grows along the sea shore of Carolina, frequently intermixed with Y. gloriosa; and flowers from May to August, and sometimes grows as much as 9 ft. or 10 ft. high. The great peculiarity by which it appears to be distinguished is, the spreading of the flowers, the segments of which, instead of remaining closed in a globose manner, as in most of the other species, expand till they diverge from the flower-stalk nearly at a right angle. The main stem, clear of leaves, was [in the plant figured in the Botanical Register] 2 ft. long, and terminated in three clusters of leaves, from the centre of each of which rose a flower-stem 3 ft. high. The foliage, notwithstanding its stiffness, does not offend the eye, as the leaves gradually turn back as they grow old," till at last they form a very graceful arrangement. "Nothing can be better adapted than these plants, for ornamenting either artificial or natural masses of rockwork, precipitous banks, or other situations where their singular stems can be so much above the eye as to form a bold and prominent object standing out in strong relief against the sky." Y. draconis is perfectly hardy, and stands out, without the slightest protection, in the nursery of Messrs. Backhouse of York. There are also plants standing out in the Horticultural Society's Garden at Chiswick, which " no weather seems to harm." (Bot. Reg.) Dr. Lindley also observes that yuccas are very suitable for gardens near the sea coast, from that situation being similar to their native habitat. 5. Y. STRICTA Sime The upright Yucca, or Lyon's narrow-leaved Adam's Needle. Identification. Sims in Bot. Mag., t. 2222. Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 2222.; and our fig. 2396. |