Vellozia

Vellozia, a genus of plants of the natural order Hæmodoraceæ, natives of Brazil, Africa, Guiana, and Madagascar, and sometimes called Tree Lilies. They are perennials, with trunks closely covered by the withered remains of leaves, branching by forks, and bearing tufts of long, narrow, aloe-like leaves at the extremities of the branches. Some of them are from 2 to 10 feet high, and the trunk is sometimes as thick as a man's body. The structure of the trunk is very remarkable. It has a slender sub-cylindrical central column, of the ordinary monocotyledonous structure, outside of which are arranged great quantities of slender fibrous roots, which cohere firmly by their own cellular surface, and form a spurious kind of wood. The flowers of the larger species are about 6 inches long, pure white, yellow, blue, or purple.