Plate 18. 



aloe peetoeiensis. 



Transvaal. 



Liliaceae. Tribe Aloinae. 

 Aloe, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook.f. vol. iii. p. 776. 



Aloe pretoriensis, Pole, Evans in Trans. S. Afr. Roy. Soc. vol. v. p. 32, 



t. xii. xiii. 



This handsome Aloe occurs on the northern slopes of the 

 hills around Pretoria, and is especially abundant on Meintjes , 

 Kop. It is also found near Lydenburg, at Barberton, the 

 Premier Mine, and along the foot of the Lebombo range of 

 mountains. The flowers usually appear in May, and when in 

 flower the plants attract large numbers of brightly coloured 

 sun-birds. The tall branched inflorescence forms the most 

 striking feature of the plant, and when one compares it with 

 that of Aloe lineata, which is unbranched and differs in many 

 other important respects, it seems almost incredible that A. 

 pretoriensis should have been mistaken by so many botanists 

 for A. lineata as has been done. 



Description : — Stem short, sometimes reaching 1 metre in 

 height, 8-12 cm. in diameter Leaves numerous, 30-60 in a 

 dense rosette, arcuate-erect, 30-65 cm. long, 3-7 cm. broad at 

 the base, 8-10 mm. thick, lanceolate, acuminate, acute, flat on the 

 upper surface and slightly canaliculate towards the tip, convex 

 beneath, light green or slightly glaucous, with the margins 

 armed with red sharply pointed horny prickles 3-4 mm. long 

 and 10-17 mm. apart, and in old leaves the tips withered and 

 reddish in colour. Inflorescence a lax panicle 2-3*5 metres 

 high. Peduncle stout with 2-8 ascending branches, subtended 

 by deltoid-ovate bracts at the base ; racemes dense, 15-50 cm. 

 long, conical-cylindric. Bracts at first densely imbricate, 

 15-20 mm. long, 10-12 mm. broad, ovate-deltoid, many veined. 

 Pedicels 20-25 mm. long, lengthening and becoming erect in 

 the fruit. Perianth pendulous, 40-43 mm. long, cylindrical, 

 slightly swollen towards the middle and tapering upwards, 



