126 FABLES OF FLORA, 
ALOE AND POPPY. 
‘ The American Aloe has been said to blos¬ 
som only once in one hundred years, and then 
immediately to die. This tradition has been 
often beautifully alluded to in poetry. The tardy¬ 
flowering species of Mexico has, indeed, in cold 
climates, been cultivated near a century, before 
flowering. It arrives at this state, however, in 
six or seven years, in its native climate, and in 
the warmth of Sicily. Before this period, the 
plant presents nothing but a perpetually unfolding 
cone of long, rather narrow, but thick and fleshy 
leaves, pointed and beset on their maigins with 
strong thorns. Before flowering, this cone and 
cluster of leaves attains an enormous bulk and 
development. If suffered to flower, it sends up 
a central scape, from eighteen to thirty feet in 
height, resembling a huge chandelier, with numer¬ 
ous branches clustered. These bear several thou¬ 
sands of elegant but not showy flowers, of a 
greenish-yellow color. From these slowly drops 
a shower of honey. With the flowering of the 
plant its energies become exhausted, and it im¬ 
mediately perishes, however long it may have 
previously existed. ****** 
‘ The Aloe is said to grow plentifully in Arabia 
Felix. The religion of Mahommed enjoins upon 
