ALOE. 679 



LILIACEiE. 



ALOE. 



Ahes ; F. Aloes ou Sue cP Aloes ; G. Aloe. 



Botanical Origin — Several species of Alo'e^ furnish a bitter juice 

 which when inspissated forms this drug. These plants are natives of 

 arid, sunny places in Southern and Eastern Africa, whence a few 

 species have been introduced into Northern Africa, Spain,^ and the 

 East and West Indies. 



The aloes are succulent plants of liliaceous habit with persistent 

 fleshy leaves, usually prickly at the margin, and erect spikes of yellow 

 or red flowers. Many are stemless ; others produce stems some feet in 

 height, which are woody and branching. In the remote districts of 

 Namaqua Land and Damara Land in Western South Africa, and in the 

 Transkei Territory and Northern Natal to the eastern, aloes have been 

 discovered which attain 30 to 60 feet in height, with stems as much as 

 12 feet in circumference.^ The following species may be named with 

 more or less of certainty as yielding the drug.^ 



Aloe socotrina Lam. {A. vera Miller), native of the southern shores 

 of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, Socotra, and Zanzibar (?). It is the 

 source of the Socotrine and Moka Aloes. A. oj§icinalis Forsk. and 

 A. rubescens DC. are considered to be varieties of this plant. A. abys- 

 sinica Lam. may probably contribute* to the aloes shipped from the 

 Red Sea. 



A. vulgoj'is Lam. (A. perfoliata, var. tt. vera Linn., A. barbadensis 

 Mill), a plant of India and of Eastern and Northern Africa, now found 

 aLso on the shores of Southern Spain, Sicily, Greece, and the Canaries ; 

 introduced in the beginning of the 16th century (or earlier) into the 

 West Indies. It affords Barbados and Curacao Aloes. A. indicni 

 Royle, a plant of the North-west Provinces of India, common in Indian 

 gardens, appears to be a slight variety of A. vulgaris Lam. A. litoralis 

 Konig, said to grow in abundance at Cape Comorin, is unknown to us. 

 Dr. Bidie suggests that it is a form of the preceding, stunted by a poor 

 saline soil and exposure to the sea breeze. Both A. indica and A. 

 litoralis are named in the Pharmacopoeia of Iiulia. 



Aloe ferox L., and hybrids obtained by crossing it with A. afncaiut, 

 Mill, and A. spicata Thunberg, A. perfoliata Linn, (quoad Roxb.) and 

 ^1. lingiioefoi^iiis are reputed to yield the best Cape Aloes. 



A. africana Mill, and its varieties, and A. plicatilis Mill, afford 

 an extract which Pappe' says is thought to be less powerful. 



A. arborescens Mill., A. Commelini Willd. and A. pmrpurascens 



' From the Syriac Aluxii. rina, and A. rulgai-is will be found in the 



-Aloe arborescens, A. purpurascen-s, and work Monorp-aphia (feneris Aloes et Mesem- 



A. vulgaris may be seen luxuriantly grow- bryanthemi, auctore Jos. Principe de Salm- 



ing in Valencia, Granada, Gibraltar. Reifferscheid-Dyck, Bonnae, 1836-1863. 



* Dyer in Gardeners' Chronicle, May 2, fol. 

 1874, with figures. ' Florce Capensis Medicte Prodromus, ed. 



*Good figures of Aloe africana, A. arbor- 2, 1857. 41. 

 escens, A. ferox, A. purpuraacens, A. socot- 



