366 HORTUS MORTOLENSIS 
Buds and flowers are, however, very sensitive to frost and easily 
damaged during cold winters. 
For a full account of the Aloes and allied genera cultivated at 
La Mortola see my monograph.* 
We distribute annually a large number of seeds of these plants. 
It must be remembered, however, that they are very often the 
product of fertilization by bees, from which numberless hybrids 
result. 
A. abyssinica. 
For the intricate synonymy and history of this species see my 
monograph. The plant has been largely distributed in gardens 
under the names of A. elegans and A. Peacockit. 
Its hybrid with A. striata (syn. A. Hanburyana) originated at 
La Mortola. It is an attractive plant with the habit of A. 
abyssinica. 
A. ethiopica. 
The single specimen of this plant used to flower at Christmas. 
It was figured in Bot. Mag. t. 7667 under the wrong name of 4. 
Schweinfurthii. The plant suffered during the winter of 1901 
and subsequently died. It is a native of Abyssinia and grows 
near Abba Gerima at an elevation of 6-9000 feet. The plant never 
produced seeds, not even by artificial impollination, nor offshoots, 
and it has not been possible to procure another specimen. A. 
Schweinfurthi, quite a different plant, is a native of Niam-Niam- 
land, and has never been introduced. 
A. arborescens. 
The type (var. Millert) has a tall stem, green leaves, and a 
large pyramidal spike of deep red flowers. It is rather rare. 
There is a good specimen of it in the Temperate House at Kew. 
Very near to it comes the var. Ucrie, with longer, more falcate 
leaves and shorter and paler flowers. Var. viridifolia has broad 
green leaves and paler flowers than the type. Var. natalensis has 
the flowers similar to the type, but very glaucous leaves. It is 
generally accepted—for instance, by Prince Salm-Dyck—as the 
true A. arborescens. On the Riviera, where it is commonly culti- 
vated, it flowers from December to February. Var. pachythyrsa 
is similar to it, but the leaves are stouter and even more glaucous ; 
the flowers, in very thick racemes, are larger and showier. Var. 
frutescens is hardly distinguishable from var. natalensis when out 
of flower. Its spikes are much shorter and appear later. It is 
the most commonly planted variety, though less attractive. For 
a more detailed account see my monograph. 
A. arborescens and var. frutescens were first brought from Kew 
by Mr. Daniel Hanbury, in July, 1868, and the former again from 
Villa Thuret, in October, 1871. 
* A. Engler, Das Pflanzenreich, Regni vegetabilis conspectus.—Part iy. 38, 
iii. 2; Alwin Berger, Liliacee-Asphodeloidee-Aloinee. Leipzig, 1908. 
