240 



obtuse. Berry globose, about \ in. in diam., bright orange, 

 1-seeded, with 2 cells aborted in tlie specimens seen. — Prain in 

 Records of the Botanical Survey of India, vol. iii. p. 287, and 

 Contributions to Indian Botany, p. 339. S, guineensis, Gerome 

 & Labroy in Bull. Mus. Hist. TTat. Paris, 1903, pp. 172-173, 

 fig. 1; De Wildem. Mission E. Laurent, p. clvi., with fig,, and 

 Notices PI. Utiles du Congo, pp. 624-625, f. 1, not of p. 629 



nor of "Willdenow. S. zebrina, Gentil, Liste PI. Cult. Jard. 

 Bot. Brux, 1907, p. 172, name only. S. Jacquiniiy INT. E. Brown 

 in Keiv Bulletin^ 1911, p, 97. Aloe gitineensisj Jacq. Enum. 

 Stirp. Agro Vindobon, 308, not of Linnaeus. Aletris hyacin- 

 thoides, Miller, Diet. ed. 8, No. 3, not of Linnaeus. Aletris. 

 guineensis, Jacq. Hort. Vindobon, vol. i. p. 36, t. 84; Lamarck, 

 Encycl. Meth. vol. i. p. 79. Acyntha guineensis^ Medik., 

 Theodora Speciosa, p. 76. Salmia gmneensis, Cavanilles, Icon. 

 vol. iii. p. 24. Pleomele aloifoUa^ Salisii. Prodr. p. 245. 



West TRoncAL Africa. Southern Nigeria; Oban district, 

 Talbot I and cultivated specimens! 



Var. Laurentii, N. E. Brown. — Leaves longitudinally striped 

 with golden yellow, otherwise exactly as in the type. — S. 

 Laurentii, Be. Willdem. in Eev. Cult. Colon., 1904, vol. xiv. 

 p. 231; Mission E. Laurent, p. 45, fig. 9-10, and Notices PI. 

 Utiles du Congo, p. 628; Gentil in Rev; Hort. Belg., 1904, vol. 

 . p. 169, with plate; Gard. Chron., 1909, vol. xlv. p. 347. 



West Tropical Africa. Belgian Congo, cultivated plants, 

 discovered near Stanleyville and introduced into cultivation hy 

 Emile Laurent. 



cultivated at Kew. When 

 I believed thnt Ihp nlmif. i 



om 



^' 



mi 



from that liere described, on account of tlie flowers being figured 

 as nearly sessile and having a longer tube, but I now feel con- 

 vinced that his figure is not correct as to these details and that 

 it is the same plant as S. trifasciata. The name S. zebrina is 

 published without a description, but a living specimen of it 

 having been kindly sent to Kew by Monsieur L. Gentil, its 

 identity with S. trifasciata is certain. 



The^typical form of this species has been in cultivation for 

 over 150 years, and during the greater part of that period has 

 been confused with S. guineensis; but it is utterly different from 

 the plant figured and described by Commelin, upon which that 

 name is founded, and is also one of the most distinct and easily 

 recognised of the genus. 



The more recently introduced variety Laurentii is a rather 

 remarkable plant. Not so much on account of its beautifully 

 variegated foliage, but because that variegation is not repro- 

 duced m plants raised from leaf-cuttings. At least all efforts 

 made at Kew to propagate the variegation from cuttings of the 

 varien;ated leaves have resulted in failure, as all the plants so 

 raised hare reverted to the typical form, without a trace of the 

 yellow striping. Even plants that have originated directly from 

 the yellow part of a leaf-cutting have no trace of the yellow 

 m tnem, so that it would appear the power to produce the yellow 



