ALOE VULGARIS. — YELLOW -FLOWERED ALOE. 
Class VI. HEXANDRIA.— Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, AS PH O DELETE. THE ASPHODEL TRIBE. 
Fig. (a) represents a flower with its bractea; (6) the pistil with the base of the corolla ; (c) the same with the corolla removed. 
The derivation of this name is uncertain. Beginning with the syllable Al, it is, perhaps, of Arabian ori- 
gin ; especially as the plant is much venerated in the East. In the Hebrew, a cognate language, it is called 
ahalah: some derive Aloes from the Greek als [the sea]; others from the Latin, adolendo ; but this can 
only refer to the Aloe-wood, which is used in sacrifices for its fragrance. On the whole it is probable the 
name was first applied to the aloe-wood, and hence transferred to the common Aloes, on account of their 
bitterness. Its medicinal virtues were made known to us by Dioscorides, the physician of Cleopatra; and 
| it is also mentioned by Plutarch. The name Aloe is retained by all the European nations. 
From the specimens we are in the habit of seeing in this country, we should be inclined to think that 
I the utility of the Aloe far surpassed its beauty, and to rank it, as a vegetable, with the camel and elephant 
in animal life. Like the larger animals, it is confined to hot, or comparatively uncivilised countries. Its 
| appearance, which resembles a collection of huge leathern claws, armed with prickles, is very formidable; 
and even the smaller species have a sort of monstrosity of size in their parts, though small as whole. But 
notwithstanding the extraordinary utility of the Aloe, those who have seen it in its native country, and in 
j full flower, describe it as scarcely less remarkable for elegance and beauty. The larger and more useful kinds 
appear to be also the most beautiful. 
“ Nature seems to have treated the Africans and Asiatics as barbarians,” says St. Pierre, in speaking of 
j the Aloe, “ in having given them these at once magnificent, yet monstrous vegetables ; and to have dealt 
I with us as beings capable of sensibility and society. Oh, when shall I breathe the perfume of the honey- 
suckle? — again repose myself upon a carpet of milk-weed, saffron, and blue-bells, the food of our lowing 
herds? and once more hear Aurora welcomed with the songs of the labourer, blessed with freedom and 
content ? ” 
The Aloe vulgaris, which is the species that Sloane describes in his History of Jamaica, as producing 
j the Barbadoes extract, is a native of the Levant and Barbary. Though generally known under the name of 
I Barbadoes Aloe, it is said not to be very common in the West Indian islands, where the plants are propa- 
i gated on the poorest soil for the purpose of obtaining the Hepatic aloes of the shops. It is the aXovi of 
| the ancient Greeks, and was found by Dr. Sibthorpe growing spontaneously in the island of Cyprus. 
The stem is short, thick, shrubby, branched, and, like the rest of the plant, abounding in a clammy, 
bitter, fetid, yellowish juice. The leaves are about four inches broad at their base, crowded, sessile, nearly 
' erect, or somewhat spreading, a foot long, lanceolate, acute, fleshy, smooth, succulent, concave above, of a 
! sea-green colour, and when young spotted with white. The flower stem rises about three feet in height ; it 
i is round, thick, erect, smooth, of a brownish purple colour, branched at top, and terminated by the flowers 
I which form a slender, loose pike, and are of a bright yellow colour. The flowers are numerous, spreading 
horizontally in an elegant spike, and stand on short, smooth footstalks, each flower being accompanied by a 
single bractea. The bracteas attached to the flower stems are triangular, membranaceous, and of a deep 
brown colour. The perianth is hexapetaloid, the pieces connate, the tube long, the limb deeply 6-cleft, cy- 
lindrical, and oblong ; the outer segments are larger than the inner, ovate, blunt and spreading at the border. 
The stamens are thread-shaped, as long as the corolla, or longer, exserted from the receptacle, and furnished 
with oblong, incumbent anthers. The germen is oblong-ovate, angular, bearing a style nearly of the length 
and shape of the stamens, with a small, simple stigma. This species and A. stricta, are the softest and most 
succulent of all the Aloes ; the former is the only species whose flowers are yellow. 
Lavaysse, in his ‘ Venezuela,’ says, “ The leaves of the different specimens of Aloe, are highly serviceable 
I to the natives of the countries where they grow. The negroes in Senegal make excellent ropes of them 
which are not liable to rot in water ; and of two kinds mentioned by Sir Hans Sloane, one is manufactured 
into fishing-lines, bow-strings, stockings, and hammocks ; while the other has leaves, which, like those of 
the wild pine and the banana, hold rain-water, and thus afford a valuable refreshment to travellers in hot 
climates. The poor in mexico derive almost every necessary of life from a species of Aloe. Besides making 
excellent hedges for their fields, its trunk serves instead of beams for the roofs of their houses, and its leaves 
supply the place of tiles. From these they obtain paper, thread, needles, clothing, shoes, stockings, and 
i cordage ; from the juice they make wine, honey, sugar, and vinegar. 
Such of the Aloes as do not require a stove will bear the open air in our climate, from the end of March 
to the end of September. During the winter they should be watered about once a month ; in the summer, 
when the weather is dry, once a week or ten days ; but when there is much rain, they should be sheltered 
from it, or they will be apt to rot. If the weather be mild, they may be placed where they may receive the 
fresh air in dav-time for a month after they are housed ; after that the windows should be closed. They 
should not be put into large pots, but should be removed into fresh earth every year, which should be done in 
July. As much of the earth should be shaken away as possible, the roots opened with the fingers, and such as 
are decayed taken off; but great care must be taken not to break or wound those which are young and fresh. 
Water them gently when newly planted, place them in the shade for three weeks, and if the weather is hot 
and dry, water them in a similar manner once or twice a week. Most of the species may at this time be 
