12 DICTIOKAEY OF POPULAR NAMES ALMOND 



Almond Tree, Java {Oanarmm commune), a large tree of 

 the Myrrh, family (Burserace^), native of India, Malay, and 

 other islands of the Malay Archipelago, in many of which it is 

 cultivated for the sake of its fruit, which is a three-sided drupe 

 contaiaing generally only one perfect seed, which tastes like an 

 almond. They yield an oil. {See Elemi.) 



Aloe, a genus of succulent plants of the family Liliacece, 

 numbermg about 150 species, chiefly natives of the Cape of 

 Good Hope and the African Islands. They vary considerably 

 in habit and size, which has led modern botanists to arrange 

 them under separate genera; true Aloes, including the tall 

 species, attaining the height of 6 to 10 feet, of which A, 

 africana is the type. Gasteria contains a number of short- 

 stemmed or stemless species, with thick, short leaves, of which 

 the well-known Partridge-breast Aloe (A. variegata) is an ex- 

 ample. Saworthia contains smaller species, generally stemless, 

 a few with smooth entire, but the greater number with spiny- 

 margined leaves. The purgative drug called Bitter Aloes is 

 the hardened juice which runs spontaneously from the leaves 

 when wounded of A, mdgaris and others; but the best is 

 obtained from A. succotrina, which abounds in, and gives a 

 character to, the small island of Socotra at the mouth of the 

 Eed Sea. Aloes have long been favourites with amateur 

 cultivators. The Kew collection a few years ago consisted of 

 between 90 and 100 species. 



Aloe, American (Agave americana), a large succulent-leaved 

 plant of the Narcissus family (Amaryllidaceae), A native of 

 Mexico and Central America, naturalised in Southern Europe, 

 many parts of Africa, Western Asia, Southern India, and other 

 parts. It is well known in the gardens of this country, and is 

 said to have been introduced about the middle of the sixteenth 

 century. The variety with golden-striped foliage is the greatest 

 favourite. This plant has long enjoyed the reputation of pro- 

 ducing its flowers but once in a hundred years, and that when 

 it did so it made a report like a gun. The truth is, that a plant 

 may be forty or fifty years of age before it does flower, and 



