Classification of Plants 



187 



especially to cling along low broken sandstone ledges. Some have thick 

 stems, shaggy below, with blackened remains of leaves, crowned with a 

 bunch of spear-like leaves, above which rises a majestic stalk of flaming 

 red or yellow flowers. A. arborescens grows to a height of 15 feet. A. 

 minima, which grows in grass, has a spike only 6 or 9 inches high, rising 

 from a rosette of leaves. 



The so-called American Aloe (Agave) belongs to the order Amarylli- 

 daceae. It is native of Central America. In the dry climate of that country 

 it has acquired similar habits of growth to the Aloes. 



Agapanthus. — The large umbels of bright blue flowers 

 (or rarely white) are subtended by two broad papery bracts, 

 which fall early. Rootstock tuberous, with fleshy fibres. 

 Leaves radical, fleshy, d-Z scape ; 3-4 feet long. 



Found in the Coast, Central, Kalahari, and Eastern regions, 

 some plant, frequently cultivated. 



A hand- 



Bulbinella. — Perianth lobes i -nerved, remaining on after 

 withering. Ovules 2 in a cell ; seeds sometimes solitary. 

 Leaves all radical ; scape usually unbranched. Flower-stalks 

 with a joint at the apex. 

 Root of fleshy fibres. Chiefly 

 Western. 



Bulbine. — The bright 

 yellow flowers may be known 

 from Bulbinella by the pretty 

 feathery stamens and numer- 

 ous ovules. 



Stem sometimes branched 

 and leafy. A widely distri- 

 buted genus, from near the 

 sea-level to an altitude of 

 4000 feet. 



Bowiea. — A peculiar 

 plant with a large green 

 tuber-like bulb on the surface 

 of the soil, a slender wavy 

 stem with many pinnate branches bearing slender Asparagus- 

 like branchlets, which are subtended by scale leaves. Flowers 

 small, 7: to 2 inch in diameter, borne from the main stem on 



Fig. 191. — Ornitliogaluw thyrsoides, var. 

 anreuiii. (After "Botanical Magazine.") 



