Flora of North America species comparison

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Manfreda virginica

false aloe, rattlesnake master, Virginian agave
Rhizomes

cylindrical.
Leaves

spreading, semisucculent, 8–40(–47) × 0.5–6.5(–9.3) cm;

blade usually spotted or speckled with maroon, shallowly channeled, oblanceolate to linear-lanceolate, margins entire or with cartilaginous prickles.
Scape

4.5  13.8 dm.
Inflorescences

14–68 cm, bearing 10–61 closely spaced flowers.
Flowers

sessile or pedicellate, nearly erect, slender, with sweet, fruity odor;

tepals green;

perianth tube 0.9–2.3 × 0.3–0.6 cm;

limb lobes erect, 0.4–0.8 cm;

filaments inserted near base of tube, bent in bud, exceeding tube by 1.2–3.1 cm;

ovary 4–10 mm;

style shorter than stamens, exceeding tube by 0.6–2.3 cm;

stigma white, 3-lobed, lobes reflexed.
Capsules

globose, 1–1.7 cm diam. 2n = 60.

Manfreda virginica
Phenology Flowering summer–late summer, rarely in spring; fruiting late summer–early fall.
Habitat Glades and open woods, on rocky and sandy soils, often on slopes
Elevation 0–600 m (0–2000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OH; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; Mexico (Nuevo León, Tamaulipas)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Leaf shape and size in Manfreda virginica vary with soil type, amount of shade, length of cold period, and position of leaf in the rosette. Speckles and spots occur frequently on some leaves in most populations, and some authors have used the informal designation “forma tigrina for such variants. Pollination is primarily by sphinx moths (S. E. Verhoek 1978).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 463.
Parent taxa Agavaceae > Manfreda
Sibling taxa
M. longiflora, M. maculosa, M. sileri, M. variegata
Synonyms Agave virginica, Agave lata, Agave tigrina, Agave virginica var. tigrina, M. tigrina, M. virginica subsp. lata, M. virginica var. tigrina, Polianthes lata, Polianthes virginica
Name authority (Linnaeus) Salisbury ex Rose: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 8: 19. (1903)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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