DESCRIPTION:--Stemless; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, cuneate at the base, up to 0·5 m. long and 10 cm. wide, entire, undulate, especially in the lower part, quite glabrous, bright green above, glaucescent beneath; petiole up to 1·25 m. long; peduncle as long as the petiole. _Bracts_ tubular, oblique and acute at the mouth, uppermost one cymbiform, acuminate, up to 20 cm. long, green, edged with purple. _Sepals_ lanceolate, 7 to 10 cm. long, orange-yellow. _Petals_ dark blue, blade of the lower two 5 cm. long, with a rounded basal auricle; claw 2·5 cm. long; upper petal ovate, 2·5 cm. long. _Stamens_ reaching to the top of the longer petals; anthers narrowly linear, twice as long as the filaments; style exserted, with 3 linear branches 2·5 cm. long. _Fruit_ a capsule; seeds covered with reddish woolly hairs. (National Herb., Pretoria, No. 2915.) PLATE 186.--Fig. 1, plant much reduced; Fig. 2, median longitudinal section of a flower. F.P.S.A., 1925. [Illustration: 187.] PLATE 187. ALOE ARBORESCENS var. FRUTESCENS. _Transvaal._ LILIACEAE. Tribe ALOINEAE. ALOE, _Linn._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant_, vol. iii. p. 776. * * * * * =Aloe arborescens=, _Miller, Gard. Chron._ ed. viii. No. 3; var. =frutescens=, _Bkr. Fl. Cap._ vol. vi. p. 322. * * * * * This _Aloe_ is widely distributed along the eastern mountain range and is known to extend northwards as far as the Victoria Falls. The many stems which grow together give the plant a bush-like appearance which makes a very effective display in a large rockery, and it has the advantage over many other species of the genus in that the inflorescence is not nipped by a severe frost. The species also lends itself admirably to growing on rough stone pillars forming an entrance to a drive. Our specimen was collected on the hills near Haenertsburg on the Drakensbergen in June 1914, and cultivated at the Division of Botany, Pretoria.