CACTUSES AND OTHER SUCCULENTS I59 



vera). Strange as it may seem it belongs to 

 the same family as our beautiful Easter lily. 

 The light green leaves are very thick and 

 fleshy and taper gradually to a point which is 

 not tipped with a spine. At a distance the 

 edges look as if they were set with spines, 

 but one is agreeably surprised to find that it 

 is a suggestion only. In the late winter 

 months a flower stem about one and a half or 

 two feet long is produced which bears at its 

 top a conical-shaped cluster of yellow flowers 

 which reminds one of the flower cluster of the 

 red-hot poker plant (Kniphofia), a close 

 relative. The individual flowers are about 

 one and one-quarter inches long, yellow, and 

 crowded closely together. A single flower 

 lasts only a day or two, but the lower ones 

 open first while the buds of the upper ones 

 are still forming so that one plant will be 

 in flower for a fortnight, or so. 



If you want a red-flowered aloe grow J. 

 Succotrina. 



These aloes have one bad habit: when they 

 begin to get of any size they become top- 

 heavy. To overcome this, stake them for 

 several years. If the plant becomes too big 

 for the window garden and yet you do not 



