M E S 



r^i vE s 



There are several varieties. 



In the first, the leaves are wide and com- 

 pressed about the edge : the flowers somewhat 

 large, witli blimt |x;tals, scattered and not nu- 

 merous, with scarcely any peduncle : one plant 

 has several heads, from each of which are pro- 

 duced clusters of leaves in pairs, disposed like 

 those of the Tongue Aloes, but with the edges 

 not horizontal but oblique : there are generally 

 three or four pairs of these leaves ; they are 

 broad and thick, fiat above, pillowed below, 

 Lright green, smooth and shining, sometimes 

 blunt, sometimes a little pointed, generally in 

 the shape of a shoemaker's knife : the younger 

 leaves in this and the other varieties are folded 

 together and obliquely inserted into each other : 

 the flowers come out successively in August and 

 iScptenibcr from the a.xils, beginning with the 

 lo\\cst, thev are subsessile, large, yellow, some- 

 what paler than in the following variety, shining 

 in the sun : petals som'ewliat blunter, entire, or 

 sometimes cut here and there. 



The Broad Tongue-leaved variety has thick 

 leaves, flat above, convex beneath, with the 

 margins thicker and less uijright than in the 

 preceding, smooth and shining, pale green, es- 

 pecially toward the base, when held up to the 

 light appearing to be composed of innunjcrable 

 vesicles : three or four pairs of these leaves lie 

 in the same inclined plane; these are sometimes 

 flatter and blunt at the end, sometimes very 

 much cut at the edge: from the lower pair first, 

 and then from the next, a short peduncle arises, 

 obtusely triquetrous, bearing a large flower of a 

 shining golacn colour, with many stamens, hav- 

 ing oblong golden anthers. 



The iNarrow Tonsjue-leaved variety is very 

 ]ike the preceding, but the petals have a slight 

 tinge of red on the outside : the older leaves sre 

 more reflex ; the younger ones, which are closer 

 and more kixuriant, are somewhat twisted in and 

 excavated, and are of a fuller green colour: the 

 fruit is smaller and softer, not elexatcd, but 

 rather depressed, roundish, and conmionly 

 streaked with eleven angles; it is generally 

 eleven-celled ; the cells being the same in num- 

 ber as there are horns of the style, which are 

 depressed at the bottom of the flower imder the 

 stamens, and arc curled and wrinkled : the pc- 

 Uils in two or three rows, almost of the same 

 length, of a shining yellow colour. It flowers 

 in August and September. 



There is another variety, w hich is distinguish- 

 ed fron) the others by the leaves being longer and 

 more erect : the peduncles of the flowers longer: 

 the capsules less globular, connnonly divided 

 into nine cells : the calycine segments four, three 

 longer and narrower, <nic shorter and broader. 



with a membranaceous margin : llie flowers have 

 a double or triple row of petals, shining in 

 the sun with the splendour of gold : the sta- 

 mens numerous, with oblong saft'ron-coloured 

 anthers. 



The thirty-eighth species grows up into a stem 

 an inch and morem thickness, and two or three 

 feet in height, standing upright with little or 

 no assistance, with a crown of clustered leaves 

 a long span in length at the top, and branches 

 a fool long and more at the base, which hang 

 down with the weight of a nudtitudc of leaves: 

 very old plants grow a yard in height, with long 

 incurved twisted branches : the stems and lower 

 branches are of a dusky yellowish colour, but 

 the upper flowering branches green ; on the low- 

 er part of these the leaves are alternate, but oa 

 the upper part, where the flowers come out, 

 clusletLd and somewhat shorter, in pairs at 

 short intervals, triquetnjus, with equal angles, 

 slightly grooved on the sides, especially on the 

 inner side; but the alternate ones have the inner 

 side rather fiat : they are not dotted, but are of a 

 deep green, almost glaucous, like the leaves of 

 Pinks, at the angles towards the base tinged 

 slightly with purple : the peduncles from the 

 axils of the upper leaves a span in length, thick, 

 at first hanging dow n, but alterwards erect : the 

 flowers large,, expanding when the sun shines, 

 straw-coloured above, tinged with red under- 

 neath, composed of numerous slender cuspid 

 petals, gradually smaller, and the inner ones fila- 

 mentose. The flowers are open from eight op 

 nine in the morning to four or five in the after- 

 noon. It is a native of the Cape, flowering 

 from May to August. 



The thirty-ninth has the stem short, thickish : 

 the branches unequal, spreading irregularly on 

 the ground, covered with a smooth bark of a 

 dusky yellowish colour, with other smaller sim- 

 ple ones springing from them, which are also 

 irregular and t\\ isted : the leaves are pointed, 

 slightly excavated within in the middle, the outer 

 part produced and swelling, of a yellowish green 

 colour, with frequent minute dots regulaHy in 

 lines : the flovs ers are somewhat small, but 

 white; the petals narrow, peduncles short, so 

 that the flowers frequently scarcely emerge from 

 the bundles of haves : they arc filamtntosc, and 

 where white shine with a silvery brightness in 

 the sun ; but in the middle, next the stamens, 

 are slightly tinged with yellow, and shine less : 

 they arc without scent, open two or three times, 

 and in the day time only. It is a native of the 

 Cape, ilowering from June to October. 



The fortiei h has the sten' shrubby, but procum- 

 bent ; even when tied u]) its irregular twisteil 

 branches will hangdow^n; thev arc round towards 



