Tab. S663. 



ALOE ARBORESCENS, var. NATALENSIS. 



Natal. 



Liliaceae. Tribe Aloineae. 

 Aloe, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. /. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 775. 



Aloe arborescens, var. natalensis, Berger in Engl. Pflanzenr., As2)Jwdel.- 

 Aloin. p. 290; a typo foliis glaucis supra subplanis pedunculoque sub- 

 simplici differt. 



Frutex altus, e basi multiramosua ; rami erecti vel erecto-patentes. Folia ad 

 ramorum apices dense congesta, e basi dilatata ensiformia, supra gradatim 

 attenuata, reflexa vel subfalcatim deflexa, 45-50 cm. longa, 5 cm. lata, 

 supra subplana, subtus convexa, glauca, ad apicem rubescentia, anguste 

 cartilagineo-marginata ; dentes hamato-incurvi, inferiores 4 mm. longi et 

 inter se 10 mm. distantes, superiores 10-20 mm. distantes. Pedunculvs 

 erectus vel arcuato-erectus, robustus, 40-50 cm. altus, simplex vel ramo 

 brevi lateral! praeditus ; racemus 20-25 cm. longus ; bracteae steriles 

 plures, late deltoideae ; bracteae fertiles dense imbricatae, ovato-oblougae, 

 obtusae, rubescentes, demum brunneae, scariosae. Perianthium 3 • 8-4 ■ 5 cm! 

 longum ; tubus rectus vel leviter curvatus, infra medium constrictus, ruber ; 

 segmenta 3-5-nervia, exteriora subacuta, interiora obtusa, viridia. Slant inn 

 breviter exserta— A. natalensis, Wood & Evans in Journ. Bot. 1901, p. 170, 

 and Natal Plants, t. 258 ; Schoenl. in Bee. Albany Mus. vol. i. p. 43 (1903).' 

 A. arborescens, Salm-Dyck, Monogr. Aloes, § 26, fig. 3 ; Baker in Journ'. 

 Linn. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 175, et in Dyer, Fl. Cap. vol. vi. p. 322, partim ; 

 Berger in Gartenwelt, vol. x. p. 13, cum icon. (1905).— C. H. Weight. 



The typical form of Aloe arborescens, Mill., which was 

 originally described in the eighth edition of the Gardeners' 

 Dictionary, has long been known in cultivation and was 

 figured at t. 1306 of this work. It is readily distinguished 

 from all the five varieties which have at various times 

 been associated with it in its arborescent habit, its trunk 

 at times reaching a height of over twelve feet. Mr. 

 Berger, who has recently subjected the genus to careful 

 study, has retained the stemless or short-stemmed forms 

 in A. arborescens, and has proposed for the original tall- 

 stemmed plant the varietal name Milleri, The short- 

 stemmed form now figured, which competent South 

 African botanists seem disposed to consider a distinct 

 species, Mr. Berger has treated as only a variety, var. 

 natalensis, and Mr. Wright has accepted Berger's view. 

 This variety has had a history quite as prolonged as that 



June, 1916. 



