650 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Fitr. 304. 



A genus of succulent, mostly herbace- 

 ous plants, containing numerous species, 

 differing from each other exceedingly in 

 the size, form, and surface of their leaves 

 and flowers, as well as in stature. They 

 are natives of warm climates, but are not 

 strictly tropical. Many of them, and es- 

 pecially the arborescent species, abound" 

 in an acrid bitter juice, which, when in- 

 spissated, forms the purgative known as 

 Aloes. The different varieties of this drug 

 are derived from several sources, but it is 

 by no means satisfactorily ascertained to 

 which species each of the kinds is to be 

 referred. It is, however, highly probable, 

 that the following furnish the largest pro- 

 portion of the Aloes of commerce. 



1. A. vulgaris, Lamarck. — Stem simple, cy- 

 lindrical, short. Leaves succulent, amplexicaul, 

 lanceolate, glaucous-green, flat above, convex 

 beneath, armed with distant reddish spines, perpendicular to the margin, somewhat 

 mottled with a darker colour. Scape axillary, glaucous-reddish, branched. Spike cylin- 

 drical, ovate. Flowers yellow ; at first erect, then spreading, finally pendulous ; perianth 

 not longer than the stamens. 



Various species of Aloes. 



Fig. 305. 



v^ 



^vv 



A. socotrina. 



Lamarck, Encyc. Meth. i. 86 ; Desfon- 

 taines, FL Athnt. i. 310; Lindley, Fl. 

 Med. 594 ; A. perfoliata var. if.. Linn., 

 458 ; A. barbadensis, Miller, Gard. Diet. 



It is a native of the East Indies and the 

 Barbary coast, but is now naturalized in 

 the West Indies, as well as Italy, Spain, 

 &c. It yields Barbadoes Aloes, and pro- 

 bably, some of the other kinds. A. abys- 

 sinica, Lamarck, is, perhaps, a variety of 

 this species ; and if not, is very closely 

 allied to it in its botanical characters and 

 the nature of its products. 



2. A. socotrina, Lamarck. — Stems woody, 

 straight, naked below, where it is strongly 

 marked by the scars of former leaves. Leaves 

 amplexicaul, ascending, ensiform, curved in- 

 wards at the extremity, concave above, convex 

 below, with many small white serratures at the 

 edge. Raceme cylindrical, not divided. Flowers 

 scarlet at the base, pale in the middle, green at 

 the apex. Stamens unequal, 3 of them longer 

 than the flowers. 



Lamarck, Encyclop. i. 85 ; De Can- 

 dolle, PL Grass. 85; Bot. Mag. 472, 

 1474 ; Stephenson and Churchill, ii. 110 ; 

 A. perfoliata, Linn., Sp. PI. 458 ; A. 

 vera, Miller, Diet. 



A native of the island of Socotra, and 

 probably, of the adjoining coasts. This 



