23 



PLATE 292- 



Aloe Kraussii, Baker (Fl. Cap. Vol. 6, p. 306). 

 Natural Order, Liliacb^. 



A small stemless plant with pale yellow flowers. Leaves 6 to 8, erect, dis- 

 tichous, linear acuminate, 1 to 2 feet long, ^ inch broad at base, thick and some- 

 what fleshy, concave and spotted with pale oblong markings in lower portion, 

 margin distantly and obscurely denticulate. Peduncle simple, 6 to 15 inches long, 

 with many empty, oblong-deltoid, acuminate, veiny and scarious bracts and swell- 

 ings at nodes ; floriferous in upper portion only. Inflorescence corymbose 12 to 

 30 or more flowered ; pedicels ^ to f inch long, terete, swollen above, lower ones 

 deflexed, bracts lanceolate, purple veined, 7 to 9 lines long. Perianth straight, 

 6-parted in two rows, outer row of 3 oblong, obtuse segments imbricated and en- 

 closing the inner ones, concave, subcoriaceous, indistinctly 3-veined ; pale yellow 

 with brownish tips, inner 3 narrower and more delicate in texture and colouring, 

 the 3 veins forming a band in centre of the segment. Stamens 6, included, fila- 

 ments filiform, anthers similar, ovate, 2-celled, dorsifixed. Ovary superior, sessile, 

 3-angled, the angles rounded, 3-celled, cells many ovuled, ovules superposed. 

 Capsule not seen. 



Habitat : Natal: Coast and midlands; Camperdown, 2 to 3,000 feet alt, Wood 

 No. 1959 ; near Durban, 160 feet alt, March, Wood No. 844-9. Also found in 

 Transvaal and Swaziland. 



Drawn and described from Wood's No. 8449. 



One of the smallest of the Natal Aloes, usually found in open ground, and 

 flowering during the summer, it is of no economic value, and the natives have no 

 distinctive name tor it so far as we can learn. 



Pig. 1, flower with bract; 2, perianth lobe and stamen; 3, ovary, »tyle and 

 stigma ; 4, bract ; all enlarged. 



