Plate 171.
Reading edition
ALOE MARLOTHII. Transvaal. Lilaceae. Tribe Aloineae. Aloe, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 776.
Aloe Marlothii, Berger in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. vol. xxxviii. p. 87.
Aloe Marlothii is a very close ally of A. ferox figured on Plate 169, but a careful comparison of the two will show points of difference which enables one to distinguish the two species. The inflorescence in A. Marlothii has the primary branches horizontal and the flowers are more or less on one side of the axis, and not arranged so as to form a cylindric raceme, as in A. ferox. The leaves of the species also differ, those of A. Marlothii being concave-convex in cross-section and with both the upper and lower surfaces bearing prickles, while in A. ferox the leaf is biconvex in cross-section.
Plants of A. Marlothii up to 15 ft. high are often found, and they make a very ornamental show in the rockery.
Our plate was prepared from specimens grown at the Division of Botany, Pretoria.
Description:—Leaves up to 1 m. long, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, acute, concave-convex in cross-section, prickly on the face and back, with the margins armed with prickles. Inflorescence a branched raceme, with the primary branches horizontal. Flowers more or less secund. Bracts broadly ovate, shortly acuminate. Perianth tubular. Stamens at length exserted. Ovary ellipsoid, style cylindric, at length exserted; stigma small.
Plate 171.—Fig. 1, plant, much reduced; Fig. 2, median longitudinal section of flower; Fig. 3, bract; Fig. 4, part of stamen; Fig. 5, pistil.
F.P.S.A., 1925.
