Aloe ammophila Reynolds

Smith, Gideon F., Figueiredo, Estrela, Klopper, Ronell R. & Crouch, Neil R., 2012, Summer-flowering species of maculate Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae) in the Aloe zebrina-complex from South Africa: reinstatement of four names, and description of A. braamvanwykii Gideon F. Sm. & Figueiredo, Bradleya 30, pp. 155-166 : 157-160

Aloe ammophila Reynolds in J. S. Afr. Bot. 2: 116 (1936).

Type: South Africa, Limpopo Province, Pietersburg, on road to Chuniespoort , flowered in Johannesburg 14 March 1936, G.W. Reynolds 1345 ( PRE, holo.!)

Diagnostic characters: This aloe typically forms large dense colonies of up to 100 plants. Leaves are usually clearly spotted in transverse bands on the lower surface. Inflorescences are up to 0.66 m high and widely branched from about the middle with long, wide and divaricate branches so that the inflorescence is often wider than it is high ( Figure 2 ). Flowers are 30–33 mm long and coralred, with a 1 mm wide white border on the outer perianth segments.

Distribution: It is centred around Polokwane (Pietersburg), but occurs from the Bela-Bela (Warmbad) and Mookgophong (Naboomspruit) area, northwards to Louis Trichardt, Wylies Poort and Musina, Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Habitat: Flat places, in rich sandy soil, usually in grassveld, sometimes in clearings among acacia and other shrubs.

Figures

Figure 2. A. ammophila forms large dense colonies. Photo: Philip Nel.