Bertholl. in n. act. acad. N. C. xv. t. 35-39. Asparagus Draco 

 Linn. sp. pi. 451. Canary Islands, and East Indies. 



A large tree with an irregular branching forking head, the branches 

 of which are swollen and bear leaves only at their points, which are 

 often divided into fingers. Leaves about a foot long, ensiform, mucro- 

 nate, half involute, bright green, longitudinally striated, keeled both on 

 the inside and outside; secreting roundish compressed tears which 

 harden into a kind of resin. Racemes terminal, about 2 feet long, 

 erect, compound, whitish green. Flowers numerous, articulated with 

 their pedicel and therefore readily dropping off, usually in clusters of 4, 

 whitish green, or white when fully expanded, at which time their seg- 

 ments are revolute. Berry yellowish, with 6 furrows. Dragon's-blood, 

 a tonic astringent resin, sometimes employed in diarrhoea and passive 

 haemorrhages, is yielded in part by this tree, from the surface of the 

 leaves, and from the cracks in its trunk. It is however scarcely known 

 to modern druggists, who sell the astringent resin of Pterocarptis. 



1259. D. terminalis Blume (D. ferrea Spreng.}, and 



1260. D. ferrea Linn. (D. terminalis Jacq.) are said to have 

 astringent roots, found useful in dysentery. 



ALOE. 



Perianth tubular, 6-cleft, fleshy, nectariferous at the base 

 the sepals of the same form as the petals, and closely imbricating 

 them. Stamens hypogynous, as long as the perianth, or even 

 longer. Capsule membranous, scarious, 3-cornered, 3-celled, 

 3-valved, with a loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds numerous, in 2 

 rows, roundish or angular. 



1261. A. vulgaris Lam. encycl. i. 86. Desf.fl. ail. i. 310. 

 A. barbadensis Mill. diet. ed. 8. No. 2. DC. pi. grasses p. 27. 

 R. and S. vii. 693. A. perfoliata ir, vera Linn. sp. 458. 

 (Rheede xi. t. 3.) AXoij Diosc. The East Indies and Bar- 

 bary ; now cultivated in the West Indies ; as well as Italy, 

 Sicily, and Malta. 



Stem woody, simple, cylindrical, short. Leaves fleshy, amplexicaul, 

 first spreading, then ascending, lanceolate, glaucous-green, flat above, 

 convex below, armed with hard distant reddish spines perpendicular to 

 the margin ; a little mottled with darker colour ; the parenchyma 

 slightly coloured brown and very distinct from the tough leathery 

 cuticle. Scape axillary, glaucous reddish, branched. Spike cylindrical- 

 ovate. Flowers at first erect, then spreading, afterwards pendulous, 

 yellow, not longer than the stamens. This yields what are called 

 Barbadoes Aloes, or hepatic aloes by some writers, but not the true 

 hepatic aloes ; it is imported in gourds from Jamaica and Barbadoes, is 

 of a dark-brown or black varying to reddish-brown or liver-colour, and 

 has an unpleasant odour. 



1262. A. socotrina Lam. encycl. i. 85. DC. plant, grass. 

 t. 85. Woodv. t. 202. Bot. Mag. t. 472, 1474. R. and S. 



594 



