Tas. 6301. 
ALOE cHINENSIS. 
Native country unknown. 
Nat. Ord. Lintacka.—Tribe Atoinex. 
Genus Axoz, Linn. (Kunth, Enum. vol. iv. p. 492). 
Aor chinensis ; acaulis vel breviter caulescens, caule simplici, foliis 15-20 dense 
rosulatis lanceolatis acuminatis semi-pedalibus vel pedalibus viridibus cana- 
liculatis utrinque maculis albidis parvis oblongis paucis vel numerosis deco- 
ratis dentibus pallidis deltoideis marginatis, scapo simplici sesquipedali 
bracteis paucis deltoideis instructo, racemo sublaxo, pedicellis brevibus in- 
ferioribus cernuis, bracteolis minutis lanceolatis, perianthii lutei rubro tincti 
tubo brevi campanulato, segmentis superne viridi vittatis, staminibus omnibus 
inclusis, stylo demum leviter exserto. 
A. barbadensis, var. chinensis, Haworth Suppl. Pl. Suece. p. 45; Kunth, Enum. 
vol. v. p. 522. 
Trusting to a large extent to garden tradition we venture 
to identify the present plant with an Aloe which was intro- 
duced from China, by Mr. William Anderson, in 1817, which 
was briefly described by Haworth, from flowerless specimens 
in his ‘Supplementum Plantarum Succulentarum’ of 1819, 
as a probable variety of 4. barbadensis, and is mentioned in 
Salm Dyck’s monograph and Kunth’s Enumeratio, by name 
only. Our present plant is clearly quite distinct specifically 
from A. barbadensis. The leaves are never more than half 
the length of those of that species, and are spotted more or 
less copiously both on back and face after the fashion of A. 
abyssinica ; the raceme is very much laxer and the stamens 
are very much shorter. We have had it for a long time in 
the Kew collection, and have received it from other gar- 
dens, but never, so far as I know, with any definite informa- 
tion as to its native country. The drawing was made froma 
plant that flowered at Kew this spring. The flowers have a 
strong and decidedly unpleasant scent. Its affinity is with 
A. barbadensis, abyssinica and consobrina. 
Descr. Leaves fifteen to twenty, extending on the stem over 
JUNE lst, 1877. 
