149 
A. retusa, Thunb., Diss. Aloe,” p. 10 (1785),..and Fi: Cap..7-p, 14. 
The specimen of this consists of part of a plant. with two leaves and a flower- stem 
attached, five detached leaves, and a detached inflorescence, which all belong to 
Haworthia retusa, Duval, “ PI. Suce. Hort. Alenconio, ”p. 7 (1809), and Haw., “ Synop.,;’ 
p. 95 (1812); Aloe retusa, Linn., “ Sp. PL,” ed. 1, p. 822. No locality is mentioned by 
Thunberg for this species, but the specimen is labelled on the back of the sheet as being 
from a plant cultivated in Upsala Botanic Garden. 
A. sinuata, Thunb., “ Diss. Aloe,” p. 6 (1785), and “ EL. Cap.,” p. 311. 
This name was founded by Thunberg aon the plant enumerated by Linnaeus in his 
“Species Plantarum,” ed. 1, p. 320, and ed. 2, p. 458, as A. perfoliata, var. &, which 1 is 
based upon * Aloe succotrina angustifolia spinosa, flore pu ‘purea,’ of Commelin, “ Horti 
Medici Rariorum Plantarum,” Vol. 1, p. 94, t. 48 (1697). This plant of Commelin’s is 
Aloe succotrina, Weston, ` Universal Botanist and Nurseryman,” Vol. I, p. 5 (1770), a book 
that seems to ‘have been overlooked by all modern authors, yet it contains names that 
antedate some that have been credited to Lamark, whose first volume of his “ Encyclopédie ” 
was not published until 1783, or thirteen years later than Weston’s book. 
No specimen exists in Thunberg’s Herbarium bearing the name A, sinuata, but there 
is a sheet bearing the name A. succotrina in Thunberg’s handw riting, which Professor Juel, 
in his ** Plantae Thunbergianae,” p. 119, seems to have considered to represent A. sinudta, 
Thunb. This sheet, however, contains (a) part of a leaf of Aloe fruticosa,’ Lam., 
(b) part of a leaf of Aloe spicata, Thunb., and (c) part of a raceme of flowers of some species 
of Aloe that is quite indeterminable, but most certainly: does not belong to either species 
represented by leaves upon that sheet. 
So that if A. senuata, Thunb., is considered to be founded upon A. perfoliata, var.-€ 
of Linnaeus, it must be placed as a synonym of A. succotrina, Weston. But if it is held 
to be founded upon the sheet bearing the name A. succotrina in Thunberg’s Herbarium, 
then the name A. simuata must disappear altogether. 
In the synonymy that Thunbe ‘rg gives under A. sinuata, he quotes `` Aloe barbadensis 
mitior, laete virens et splendens. Dill., ` Hort. Elth.,” p. 23, t. 19, f. 24.” The figure should 
be 21, not 24. This figure represents one of the American species of Agave. 
Although Aloe succotrina is not mentioned by Thunberg in = * Prodromus 7’. or 
* Floras,’ yet in his `` Travels,” English translation, ed. 3, Vol. 1, p. 213, he mentions, 
under the date of 14th December, 1772, when at a farm near Slange River Mi Oudtshoorn 
Division, that ` Here we saw quickset hedges of Aloe succolrina.” What is this plant + Can 
it be a species distinct from Aloe fruticosa ¢ ; 
A. spicata, Linn. f., “ Suppl.,” p. 205 (1781); Thunb., * Fl. Cap.,” p. 309. 
Thunberg’s specimen of this is the type of this species, and consists of portions of 
two leaves and six detached flowers. The leaves are respectively 103 and 13? inches long, 
and 14 and 16 lines wide at their basal ends, gradually tapering thenes inte a long and. 
slender subulate point, which at 3 inches below the acute or bluntish tip is only 2 lines 
broad. The part of the leaf on the sheet named A. succotrins above- mentioned (under 
A. sinuata) is just 1 foot long and 14 lines broad at its basal end, and has just the same 
long, subulate apex. The teeth on the margins are 6-8 lines apart and very small, being 
not more than half a line long; the apical spine is also small. ‘The margin between the 
spines is straight or very faintly concave. The flower-stem and pedicels are absent, but the 
flowers may have been sessile. One flower has what appears to be a bract attached: to it, 
which is 6 lines long and 5 vars, broad, and is broadly elliptic, obtuse, 3- nerved. The 
perianth is campulate in shape, 7 lines long and 5 lines in diameter as “pressed, but is 
probably of nearly the same dimaisiond when alive. The segments are nearly 3 lines 
broad, ovate, oblong, obtuse, 3-nerved ; they all appear to be free to the base, and are not 
ecurved at the apex. According to Thunberg they are white, with three green veins. 
