88 OENAMBNTAL FOLIAGE PLANTS. 



Aloe. 



A genus of succulent plants, admirably adapted for the 

 greenhouse or for window gardening, containing many 

 species of great beauty, and belonging to the order 

 Liliacese. The larger-growing species with scarlet tubular 

 flowers are the most showy, and there is a quaintness 

 about the general habit of some of them which strongly 

 recommends them to the cultivator. The smaller groups 

 separated from Aloe, such as Apiara and HawortMa, con- 

 tain many little vegetable gems, while another group, 

 Gasteria, contains larger, more grotesque, and in some 

 cases handsome-flowered species. They all require to be 

 potted in well-drained soil, which should be mainly of 

 a loamy texture. 



A. ahyssinica, — ^A majestic-looking plant, the leaves of 

 which are very thick and fleshy, some two feet iu length, 

 and six inches in width at the base, tapering to an obtuse 

 point, and there slightly incurved, dull green, and clothed 

 at the edges with somewhat distant blunt spines. Native 

 of Abyssinia, about Magdala and other places. 



A. arhorescens. — This is a very distinct and handsome 

 species. Stem tall ; the leaves are slightly spreading, 

 lanceolate, recurved at the apex, and glaucous, margined 

 with green. A very desirable plant. Ifative of the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



A. plioatilis. — A very distinct and ornamental plant. 

 Its leaves are thick and fleshy, tongue- shaped, and obtuse 

 at the apex, glaucous green in colour, and arranged in a 

 distichous manner, which has given rise to the popular , 

 name of " Fan Aloe." It is called by some BMpidodendron 

 plieatilis. Native of South Africa. 



A. Soccotrina. — This is an elegant branching species. 



