Aloe affinis Berger (1908: 206)

Smith, Gideon F. & Klopper, Ronell R., 2022, Aloe immaculata and A. affinis (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), two endemics from northern and eastern South Africa, are different maculate aloe species, Phytotaxa 571 (3), pp. 291-300 : 297-298

Aloe affinis Berger (1908: 206)

( Fig. 2 ).

Also treated in: Groenewald (1941: 69, 131, 156–158, 167, Figs14–17), Reynolds (1950: 243), Judd (1967: 14, plate 4), Jeppe (1969: 80), Bornman & Hardy (1971: 105), Jacobsen (1977: 70), Jacobsen (1986: 140), Van Wyk & Smith (1996: 182), Glen & Hardy (2000: 57, pro parte excl. A. immaculata ), Newton (2001: 106), Van Wyk & Smith (2003: 186), Smith & Van Wyk (2008: 84), Grace (2009: 111, pro parte excl. A. immaculata ), Carter et al. (2011: 186), Grace et al. (2011: 7, pro parte excl. A. immaculata ), Van Wyk & Smith (2014: 210), Klopper (2015: 324, 573), Newton (2020: 494).

Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Mpumalanga province, near Mashishing [ Lydenburg ], August 1894, F. Wilms 1490 (holotype B † ; lectotype P P02053262 [https://plants.jstor. org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.p02053262]; isolectotype E E00193926 [https://plants.jstor.org/stable/ viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.e00193926] and E E00200122 [https://plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap. specimen.e00200122], Z Z-000086741). Lectotype designated by Smith et al. (2020b). [Note: The specimen kept at Herb. Z is filed under the name Aloe dyeri Schönland (1905: 289) .]

Nomenclatural note on the type of the name Aloe affinis :—The typification of the name A. affinis was discussed in detail by Smith et al. (2020b: 79).

Description:—Plants medium-sized, low-growing, solitary, rosettes erect, 0.2–0.3 m tall. Stem absent or very short. Leaves densely rosulate, arcuate-erect to suberect, slightly spreading, ± 300–450 mm long, usually with additional 100 mm dried twisted reddish brown apex, 90–110 mm wide at base; adaxial surface yellowish green, immaculate or occasionally obscurely spotted, distinctly dark-lined, mostly flat, sometimes concave; abaxial surface usually paler green, immaculate, more obscurely lineate; margin very prominent, horny, reddish brown to dark brown, with pungent deltoid reddish brown teeth, 5–8 mm long, 10–15 mm apart, straight or slightly curved towards leaf base; exudate drying pale yellow. Inflorescence 1–2 per rosette simultaneously or consecutively, up to 1 m high, erect, 5–10- branched panicle, branched from about middle or below, branches widely spreading to arcuate-erect; peduncle stout, deep green to brownish with grey powdery bloom, without sterile bracts below first branch, with few bracts below racemes, narrowly deltoid, up to 70 mm long, dry. Racemes cylindrical-acuminate, apex rounded, up to 250 mm long, erect, rather densely flowered; buds erect to spreading, flowers pendent at anthesis. Floral bracts narrowly deltoid, spreading and recurved, sometimes coiled backwards, 15–20 mm long, 3 mm wide, as long as or longer than pedicels, very thin, scarious, ± 5-nerved. Pedicels 15–20 mm long. Flowers: perianth: dull brick-red to coral-red, 40–45(–50) mm long, 9–10 mm across ovary, abruptly constricted above ovary to 5–6 mm to yield bulbous base, widening to 8–9 mm towards slightly upturned mouth, slightly decurved, outer segments free for 10 mm, tips slightly spreading; stamens with filiform-flattened filaments, not or very shortly exserted; ovary 9 mm long, 3 mm diam., green; style exserted 2–4 mm. Fruit a bluish grey capsule, ± 17 × 8 mm, dry remains of perigone persistent for long time. Seed not seen. Chromosome number: 2 n = 14 ( Groenewald 1941: 156–158, 167, Figs14–17).

Flowering time: — Aloe affinis flowers between May and June(–July) (winter in the southern hemisphere),

Habitat: — Aloe affinis grows in dense grassy patches in very fire-prone habitats and is often found on gentle slopes in rocky, hilly places or on open grassy slopes. Some areas where A. affinis used to occur are densely planted with exotic pine and eucalyptus species for the commercial paper and pulp industry.

Distribution: — Aloe affinis mainly occurs from northwestern Eswatini, and Airlie and White River in the south along the eastern escarpment to the Mariepskop area in the Mpumalanga province, and to near the Echo Caves (north of Ohrigstad), Limpopo province, South Africa ( Fig. 3 ). Outlying forms resembling A. affinis are known from Ermelo, Mpumalanga province, in the south, and north to Tzaneen, Limpopo province, South Africa. In the latter instance the specimen could not be located in Herb. PRE to verify its identity.

Additional specimens investigated: — ESWATINI. Mtutusi River , Havelock, 29 June 1961, R.H. Compton 29121 (K; NBG, 2 sheets). Havelock, 3 July 1963, R.H. Compton 29121 ( NBG, 2 sheets) .

SOUTH AFRICA. Mpumalanga province. East of Airlie, and along road to Godwan River , 6 May 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1284 (K, 2 sheets; PRE, 2 sheets) . Nort-northwest of White River , August 1955, flowered at Greendale, Salisbury [Harare, Zimbabwe], May 1957, L.C. Leach 244 (K) . Rosehaugh , 8 May 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1302 ( PRE, 3 sheets) ; 17 June 1941, G.W. Reynolds NBG 1119/35 ( NBG) . Schoemanskloof , June 1932, J.C. Smuts 308 ( PRE) ; J.C. Smuts 309 (K; PRE) ; 4 May 1938, F.Z. van der Merwe 1687 (K; PRE, 2 sheets) . Schoemans Kloof, east of Machadodorp, Flowered in Johannesburg 7 July 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1122 ( PRE) . Schoemans Kloof road, east of Lydenburg turn-off, 8 August 2003, R. Klein, L.A. Nkuna & E. van Wyk 700 (K, 3 sheets) . Crocodile River Valley, northeast of Machadodorp , 21 June 1937, G.W. Reynolds 2491 (K; PRE, 2 sheets) . Wonderkloof Natuurreservaat , 12 September 1979, J.P. Kluge 1944 ( PRE) . South of Sabie , 10 May 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1305 (K, 2 sheets; PRE, 2 sheets) . Vertroosting Nature Reserve , 15 June 1968, D. Edwards 4034 (K; PRE) . Lydenburg, flowered at Union Buildings [Pretoria], 21 August 1904, I.B. Pole Evans 18 ( PRE) . Lydenburg, collected 21 August 1914, flowered at [Botany] Laboratory, Pretoria , 22 May 1916, I.B. Pole Evans 149 (K; PRE) . Lydenburg , 6 August 1941, E. Struben NBG 1153/30 ( NBG) . Near Lydenburg , August 1894, F. Wilms TM10169 ( PRE) . Lydenburg, Witklip , 24 June 1974, J.P. Kluge 585 (LNBG; PRE) . Mt Anderson , 29 April 1980, G.L. Mohle 334 (LNBG; PRE) . Ohrigstaddam Nature Reserve , 22 May 1973, N.H.G. Jacobsen 2873 ( PRE) . Ehlanzeni, Mac Mac Falls, between Sabie and Graskop , 11 July 2007, O. Grace, E. van Wyk, L.A. Nknuna & W.F. Mabatha 87 (K; PRE) . Between Sabie and Graskop , 8 August 2003, E. van Wyk, R.G. Klein & L.A. Nkuna 698 ( PRE) . North of Graskop , 24 June 2002, M. MacMahan MM00127 ( PRE) . Pilgrims Rest , 5 May 1916, Mr Ellor 153A & B ( PRE) . East of Pilgrims Rest , 18 June 1937, G.W. Reynolds 2468 (K; PRE, 2 sheets) . The Berg, west of Pilgrims Rest , 11 May 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1309 ( PRE, 2 sheets) . Mariepskop , s.d., J.F. van der Schijff 4930 ( PRE) .

SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo. Near Echo Cave , 24 May 1961, R.G. Strey 3768 (K, PRE) .

Specimens resembling A. affinis : — SOUTH AFRICA. Mpumalanga province. Carolina, Buffelspruit , 12 August 1969, I.C. Verdoorn 2521 ( PRE) . Midway between Ermelo and Carolina , s.d., A. Hertzog PRE38084 ( PRE, 3 sheets) .

SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo province. East of Tzaneen, road to Leydsdorp , 5 May 1961, D.R.J. van Vuuren 1218 (PRE [specimen not located]). [The latter three localities are not reflected on the distribution map presented in Fig. 3 .]

Figures

FIGURE 2. Aloe affinis. A. Plant in habitat along Schoemanskloof, Mpumalanga province, SouthAfrica. B. Inflorescences are cylindricalacuminate, i.e., more cylindrical than in A. immaculata, and round-topped. C. Leaves of the species are generally yellowish green. Photographs: Gideon F. Smith.

FIGURE 3. Known natural geographical distribution range of Aloe immaculata (red on the map) and A. affinis (orange on the map).