L'I :III
Uà. Ú
PLATE CCCCLXVIII.
ALOE ARBORESCENS.
Tree Aloe.
CLASS VI. ORDER L
HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIJ. Six Chives. One Pointal.
G E N E R I C CHARACTER.
C A L Y X nullus.
COROLLA. Monopetala, erecta, sexfida, oblonga.
Tu.bus gibbus. Limbi patuli, parvi,
fundo nectarifero.
STAMINA. Filamenta sex, subulata, longitudine
corollae, fere ultra, receptáculo inserta.
Antheras oblongae, incumbentes.
PisTiLLUM. Germen ovatum. Stylus simplex,
longitudine staminum. Stigma obtusum,
trifidum.
PERICARPIUM. Capsula oblonga, trisulca, ÙIlocularis,
trivalvis.
SEMINA plura, angui ata.
OES. A. variegata sola habet stigma et stamina
declinata.
E M P A L E M E N T none.
BLOSSOM. One petal, upright, six-cleft, oblong.
Tube gouty. Limbs spreading and
small, with honey at their base.
CHIVES. Threads six, awl-shaped, the length
of the blossom, and scarcely above it, inserted
inlo the receptacle. Anthers oblong,
and incumbent.
POINTAL. Seed-bud ovate. Shaft simple, the
length of tlie stamens. Summit obtuse,
and tliree-sided.
SEED-VESSEL. Capsule oblong, 3-farrowed, 3-
celled, 3-valved.
SEEDS many and angular.
OBS. A. variegata simply has the pointal and
stamens bent downwards.
S P E C I F I C CHARACTER.
ALOE arborescens : floribus spicatis rubescentibus,
apice viridibus : foliis porrectis, lanceolatis,
carneis, apice recurvatis, marginibus
serratis : caule ad basin nudo, superne
foliis circumsesso.
ALOE with a tree-like stem. Flowers grow in
spikes of a sott red colour, green at the
ends. Leaves straight out, lance-shaped,
fleshy, and recurved, with sawed margins.
Stem naked at the base, surrounded by the
leaves on the upper part.
R E F E R E N C E TO THE PI.ATE.
1. A leaf
2 . A flower spread open.
3 . Seed-bud and pointal.
4. Miniature representation of the plant.
THIS fine tall plant has been but rarely seen in bloom near town. The specimen from which our figure
was made, was sent to London by the Rev. George Reading Leathes, from his collection at Rury St.
Edmund's, to his friend sir T. G. Cullum, bart. and obligingly communicated to us by thai gentleman.
It grows twelve feet high, and is considered as one of the loftiest of the Aloe tribe (the dichotoma and
ferox e.xcepied), the former of which is said to arrive sometimes to the enormous height of twelve feet
in circumference round the stem, twenty feet high, and four hundred round the extremity of the
branches. Colonel Paterson, in his Travels in Africa, mentions, tliat after crossing the Cou.iie or
Sand River he visited a European and his family, who with tlieir cattle had no olher ienemi;nt but what
• n a tur e had furnished them with in the Aloe dichotom.a.