THE AIOXOCOTYLEDOXES 



1997 



parthenogenetic embryos are formed in the seeds by outgrowths 

 of the nucellar tissue around the embryo sac. The seeds are 

 winged. 



Aloineae. Rootstock a rhizome, leaves crowded at the base, usually 

 fleshy with marginal prickly teeth. Flowers in terminal spikes, 

 racerhes or panicles. Perianth segments equal and connivent or 

 connate into a tube. Fruit either a loculicidal capsule or rarely 

 a berry, seeds often compressed or winged. Hawthornia, 

 Gasteria, Aloe and Aprica. 



There are about 180 species of Aloe (Fig. 1931) in South Africa, 

 especially in the Karroo Desert. They are usually shrubby or 



Fig. IQ31. — Aloe aculeata. Flowering plant. 

 South Africa. Photograph supplied by 

 courtesy of Dr. Pole Evans. 



arborescent xerophytes. The leaves are very fleshy with a waxy, 

 thick epidermis and the stomata sunken in pits. The juice from 

 the leaves when evaporated gives a bitter drug, aloes. Several 

 species are grown in gardens. The other genera mentioned above 

 are also xerophytic plants occurring in South Africa, but not as a 

 rule reaching a large size. 

 Convallarieae. Rootstock a rhizome. Leaves clustered on the 

 rhizome, scape leafless arising at the base or from the axil of a 

 leaf. Flowers racemose or spicate, perianth segments tree or 

 united. Stamens eight, inserted at the base of the perianth or on 



