ALOE PRETORIENSIS.

Transvaal.

Liliaceae. Tribe Aloinae.

Aloe, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. vol. iii. p. 776.

Aloe pretoriensis, Pole Evans in Trans. S. Afr. Roy. Soc. vol. v. p. 32, t. xii. xiii.

This handsome Aloe occurs on the northern slopes of the hills around Pretoria, and is especially abundant on Meintjes’ Kop. It is also found near Lydenburg, at Barberton, the Premier Mine, and along the foot of the Lebombo range of mountains. The flowers usually appear in May, and when in flower the plants attract large numbers of brightly coloured sun-birds. The tall branched inflorescence forms the most striking feature of the plant, and when one compares it with that of Aloe lineata, which is unbranched and differs in many other important respects, it seems almost incredible that A. pretoriensis should have been mistaken by so many botanists for A. lineata as has been done.

Description:—Stem short, sometimes reaching 1 metre in height, 8-12 cm. in diameter. Leaves numerous, 30-60 in a dense rosette, arcuate-erect, 30-65 cm. long, 3-7 cm. broad at the base, 8-10 mm. thick, lanceolate, acuminate, acute, flat on the upper surface and slightly canaliculate towards the tip, convex beneath, light green or slightly glaucous, with the margins armed with red sharply pointed horny prickles 3-4 mm. long and 10-17 mm. apart, and in old leaves the tips withered and reddish in colour. Inflorescence a lax panicle 2-3·5 metres high. Peduncle stout with 2-8 ascending branches, subtended by deltoid-ovate bracts at the base; racemes dense, 15-50 cm. long, conical-cylindric. Bracts at first densely imbricate, 15-20 mm. long, 10-12 mm. broad, ovate-deltoid, many veined. Pedicels 20-25 mm. long, lengthening and becoming erect in the fruit. Perianth pendulous, 40-43 mm. long, cylindrical, slightly swollen towards the middle and tapering upwards, peach-red (R.C.S.), with yellowish-green tips. Stamens shortly exserted; filaments greenish-yellow; anthers reddish-brown. Style shortly exserted. Capsule greyish, enwrapped in the dry perianth, 15-18 mm. long, about 6 mm. in diameter, cylindrical, 3-angled. Seeds dark, 2-5 mm. long, very narrowly 3-winged.