ALOES 581 
flowers in a raceme supported on a tall scape furnished with bracts. The 
perianth-tube is straight or slightly curved back, the six segments long 
and slender, stamens about same length as perianth. The fruit is 
membranous, three-celled, and contains many seeds. The species are 
mostly natives of Africa, and chiefly from the Cape of Good Hope. 
Aloe vera has. been in cultivation here for at least 
three hundred years. It is said to have been introduced 
from the Levant under the name of A. vulgaris, but its home is in South 
Africa, though it is widely grown throughout the Mediterranean Region 
and in the East and West Indies. Many an Aloe that is to be seen 
growing in cottage windows and other humble places has been brought 
home by sailors returning from the West Indies, who have discovered 
that it is easily transported if the juices of the plant are prevented from 
evaporating. So they tar the cut end, and tie the stump securely in a 
piece of tarred canvas, then hang the plant in the air. In this condition 
it will live for several years. Among the earliest species of Aloe to be 
introduced was A. humdlis, from the Cape of Good Hope in 1620. A 
hundred years later came A. variegata, whose creamy-margined leaves 
are familiar as a window plant, and in 1727 A. saponaria; both from 
the Cape. A. soccotrina, which is said to supply the finest quality of 
the druggists’ Aloes (which is the dried juice), came from the Cape in 
1731. In the same year A. arborescens and A. glauca were introduced 
from the Cape, and since that date many others have been brought from 
the same country. In 1768 there were nine species growing at Kew, and 
by 1814 the collection had been increased to twenty-nine species. At 
the present time ninety species are represented there. Many species of 
Aloe and allied genera were introduced by James Bowie, who was sent 
out to the Cape in 1818 to collect for Kew Gardens, and remained there 
five years. The material sent home was dealt with by Haworth, who has 
described the species. The group has been more recently dealt with by 
Mr. J. G. Baker, of Kew, in the Journal of the Linnean Society. 
ALOE ARBORESCENS (tree-like). Stem unbranched, 10 
or 12 feet high. Leaves forming a dense rosette, 3 or 4 feet 
across; somewhat glaucous, channeled above, nearly 2 feet long, with 
horny prickles along the margins. Flowers red, in dense racemes a foot 
long. Plate 271. . 
A. HUMILIS (lowly). Stemless. Leaves 3 or 4 inches long, thirty or 
forty in a dense rosette ; slightly concave, glaucous, with a few tubercles 
and faint lines ; marginal prickles of paler colour. Flowers brilliant red, 
1} inch long ; in loose racemes 6 inches long. 
A. NOBILIS (noble). Stem 3 to 4 feet high. Leaves 10 or 12 
ie 
Iv 
History. 
Principal Species. 
