keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

410 AGAVACEAE/MANFREDA
MANFREDA Salisb. FALSE ALOE, AMERICAN-ALOE, TUBE-ROSE
Glabrous � scapose perennials with rhizomes; leaves mostly in a basal rosette, soft, thick-herbaceous,
somewhat fleshy (semisucculent to succulent), entire to serrulate, and spotted,
blotched, or mottled with darker green, brown, or reddish brown or not so; flowers in a spikelike
raceme, nocturnal; perianth tubular-funnelform, 6-parted, greenish to greenish white or
yellowish, sometimes streaked or dotted with pink or brown, sometimes aging to deep rose,
purple, or nearly brown; stamens 6; filaments inserted on perianth tube, exserted; anthers linear,
versatile (= attached near middle); styles exserted; capsules 3-celled; seeds numerous, flattened.
AA genus of 26 species occurring principally in Mexico but ranging from the se United States
to Honduras and El Salvador (Verhoek 1998, 2002; Eguiarte et al. 2000). The species have been
variously recognized in Agave, Manfreda, and Polianthes, and these three genera are all closely
related (Eguiarte et al. 2000). The rhizomes of a number of species apparently contain sudsproducing
sapogenins and have long been used as a source of soap (Verhoek 1978b). Even well
into the 20 th century (e.g., 1928), the soap, known as “amole soap,” was available in TX stores,
and small Mexican settlements still used Manfreda species to produce liquid soap in a traditional
manner (Schulz 1928; Verhoek 1978b). Other species have been used medicinally (see below)
or cultivated as ornamentals. “At anther maturity, the style is shorter than the filaments,
or bent downward away from the anthers. By stigma maturity on the third day, the style has
elongated (and straightened)” (Verhoek 2002). This is presumably a mechanism to prevent selffertilization.
(Named for Manfredus de Monte Imperiale, fourteenth-century Italian writer on
medical simples—Verhoek 2002)
REFERENCES: Shinners 1951c, 1966; Verhoek-Williams 1975; Verhoek 1978a, 1978b, 2002; Diggs et
al. 1999.
1. Filaments exceeding perianth tube by 4–6.6(–9.7) cm; style slightly longer than stamens; rhizome
globose; tip of inflorescence usually reaching ca. 2.5 m in height; capsules cylindrical, 2.3–3.1 cm
long; flowers with cooked onion odor; stigma pale green, merely 3-angled, clavate, the lobes not
reflexed; species known in East TX only from Bexar Co. near extreme sw margin of area ____________ M. sileri
1. Filaments exceeding perianth tube by 0.8–3.1 cm; style usually shorter than stamens; rhizome
cylindrical; tip of inflorescence usually reaching only ca. 2 m or less in height; capsules globose
to ellipsoid, 1–2.4 cm long; flowers with sweet odor; stigma white, 3-lobed, the lobes reflexed;
including species widespread in East TX.
2. Perianth lobes 9–19 mm long, recurved; perianth (including ovary) nearly 5 cm long; leaves
narrowly lanceolate; mature capsules usually 20–25 mm long, usually � ellipsoid ___________ M. maculosa
2. Perianth lobes 3–8 mm long, erect; perianth (including ovary) 2–3.5 cm long; leaves lanceolate
to broadly lanceolate, oblong-spatulate, or elliptic; mature capsules 10–20 mm long, globose
____________________________________________________________________________ M. virginica
Manfreda maculosa (Hook.) Rose, (spotted), TEXAS TUBE-ROSE, WILD TUBE-ROSE, SPICE-LILY, AMOLE
PLANT, SOAP PLANT. Basal leaves 6–10, succulent, often blotched with brown or maroon, 2.5 cm or
less wide; inflorescence (not including scape) to ca. 40 cm long; perianth greenish white or yellowish,
sometimes streaked with pink, aging to deep rose, purple, or nearly brown; capsules
usually � ellipsoid, slightly pointed. Thickets, sandy clay or clay soils; Bexar, Gonzales, and
Wilson (Turner et al. 2003) cos. on extreme sw margin of East TX; mainly Gulf Prairies and
Marshes and South TX Plains; in the U.S. known only from TX; also Mexico. Mid-Apr–mid-Jul(–
early fall). [Agave maculosa Hook., Polianthes maculosa (Hook.) Shinners] Historically, the
chopped rhizomes were used for producing a shampoo and soap, and plants of this species are
sometimes sold as ornamentals (Verhoek 1978b, 2002). The flowers are reported to produce a
strong, spicy (Verhoek 1978b) or sweet (Verhoek 2002) odor after sundown.
Manfreda sileri Verhoek, (for Major A.M. Siler, d. 1971, of Corpus Christi, TX, who collected the
type specimen), SILER’S TUBE-ROSE, MAJOR SILER’S HUACO, HUACO. Basal leaves succulent, with