Fig. 114.
641
Species .—The following species furnish the greater part of the
substance called in the shops aloes :—
1. Al'oe vulga'ris , Lain. Dub.—’AXo'i/,Dioscor. Sibth . Stem woody, simple,cylindrical, short. Leaves fleshy, am-plexicaul, first spreading, then ascending,lanceolate, glaucous green, flat above,convex below, armed with hard, distant,reddish spines, perpendicular to themargin; a little mottled with darkercolour; the parenchyma slightly colouredbrown, and very distinct from the toughleathery cuticle. Scape axillary, glau-cous reddish, branched. Spike cylin-drical-ovate. Flowers at first erect, thenspreading, afterwards pendulous, yellow,not larger than the stamens. ( Lindley .)Beneath the epidermis of the leaves, inpeculiar parallel vessels, is found abrownish-yellow, bitter, resinous juice.This plant is a native of the East Indiesand Barbary, and is cultivated in the* v e ? t Indies, Italy, Sicily, and Malta It yields Barbadoes Aloes. A. vul-has been subdivided by some botanists into A. abyssinica and
Fi g. 11a.
W,
a j” -dFoe socotri'na, Lam. Dec.— Stem woody, straight, one anddie . ^ eet high or more, naked below, where it is strongly marked withSc ars of leaves. Leaves amplexicaul, ascending, ensiform, green,curved inwards at the point, convex below, ratherconcave above, marked w r ith numerous small whitemarginal serratures, the parenchyma aboundingin a bright brownish-yellow juice. Raceme cylin-drical, unbranched. Flowers scarlet at the base,pale in the middle, green at the point. Stamens unequal, three of them longer than the flowers.{Lindley). The leaves contain in peculiar vessels ayellow juice, which, when exposed to the air, becomesviolet, and ultimately brown. This juice is morecopious and bitter than that of Aloe vulgaris. Aloesocotrina is said to be a native of the island of Soco-tra, and to yield socotrine (and real hepatic ?) aloes ;but further evidence is required to establish thesestatements. Lieut . Wellstead {Journ. of the RoyalGeograph. Soc. vol. v.) says the hills on the west side•le ls land are covered for an extent of miles with aloe plants; and1 u anr S t° rVe ? ^ I s u °t likely, at any future period, that the whole•I Ji' 1*° collected which might be required.
«« } 0e s pica'ta, Thunb . Loud. Dub.— Stem three to four feet high,
. ‘*Ck as a i.-- T ..„ < 1 „i. ii„„l— u__ .1 i -
socotrina.
Vnr as a man ’s arm. Leaves thick, fleshy, broad at the base, gra-^^’'^nving to the point, channelled, full two feet long, distantly‘Vi/ Ce a few white spots; their parenchyma almost colourless.
u foot long, very compact, with the flowers campanulate and