V. The aloinæ: a cytological study, with especial reference to the form and size of the chromosomes

Abstract

The original object of this research was to make as wide a survey as possible of the numbers, form and size of the chromosomes in the members of the Liliaceæ. In the present contribution, the results are recorded from a small division only of this large natural order. The sub-division Aloinæ , attracted attention early in the investigation; the more especially since at the beginning of this research, with the exception of a brief description by Clemens Müller (18) of a somatic metaphase of a species of Aloë no cytological details of the group were available. While this research was in progress several papers have appeared in America (Taylor (30), (31), (32), (33)) which deal with the form and construction of chromosomes in several species of this group. These results will be discussed in a succeeding section. Systematic Position and General Characteristics of the Aloinæ . According to the classification in Engler and Prantl’s Pflanzenfamilien (6), one of the tribes of the Natural Order Liliaceæ is given as the Asphodeloideæ . This tribe is further divided, and among the divisions is that of the Aloinæ , which is again subdivided into two associations of genera:— (1) Kniphofinæ , including Kniphofia and Notosceptrum . (2) Aloinæ , including, Aloë, Gasteria, Apicra, Haworthia , and Lomatophyllum .