obscurity has had its origin in the somewhat fragmentary 
character of the original material, and has been increased 
by the capricious disposition of the species in the matter of 
flowering. There is a healthy plant. in the succulent col- 
lection at Kew, kindly presented by Professor Penzig in 
1896. But this plant, though it thrives well under the 
conditions suitable for other Aloes, has not so far flowered. 
On the other hand a plant sent by Professor Penzig to the 
Cambridge Botanic Garden flowered there as early as March 
1901. The material for our figure has, however, been 
derived from yet another plant which flowered for the first 
time in the garden of Lady Hanbury at La Mortola in April 
1911. During the journey in the course of which Penzig 
rediscovered Steudner’s Aloe, he collected young plants of an 
Aloe which he believed might be A. Schimperi, Schweinf. ; 
one of these plants was given by him to the late Sir 
Thomas Hanbury in 1901. When this plant did at length 
flowet it proved to bein reality A. Steudneri; the figure here 
given has been prepared from its flowers and from a photo- 
graph communicated, along with a full description, by 
Mr. A. Berger. In the account here given full use has 
been made of that description, and of one by Mr. Brown, 
who, ten years earlier, had occasion to deal with the 
Cambridge plant. It may be noted, however, that while 
these two very competent authorities are satisfied that the 
plant is A. Steudneri there is still some obscurity as to its 
position in the genus. Dealing with this point in the 
‘Pflanzenreich,’ Mr. Berger places the ‘species provisionally 
at the end of the section Purpurascentes with A. purpura- 
scens, Haw., and A. succotrina, Lamk. The study of the 
living plant has led Mr. Berger to suggest that its affinities 
are rather with A. percrassa, Tod., and A, rubro-lutea, 
Schinz, and has induced Mr. Brown. to. suggest a close 
relationship with A. Schélleri, Schweinf, However this 
may be, the plant, in spite of the shyness with which. it 
flowers, is a striking one and well worthy of a place in 
succulent collections. 
Descriprion.— Herb; succulent, nearly stemless, branching 
at the base. Leaves about 25, in a dense rosette a yard 
across, erect and somewhat spreading or incurved near the 
point, about 2 ft. long, 5-6 in. wide at the base, gradually 
