Aloe immaculata Pillans (1934: 25)

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 : 295-297

Aloe immaculata Pillans (1934: 25)

( Fig. 1 ).

Also treated in: Groenewald (1941: 134), Reynolds (1950: 239), Judd (1967: 28, plate 7), Jeppe (1969: 81), Bornman & Hardy (1971: 101), Jacobsen (1977: 84), Jacobsen (1986: 170), Van Wyk & Smith (1996: 200), Newton (2001: 143), Smith (2003: 32), Van Wyk & Smith (2003: 204), Smith & Van Wyk (2008: 89), Carter et al. (2011: 185), Van Wyk & Smith (2014: 240), Klopper (2015: 342, 592), Newton (2020: 579).

Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo province, Pietersburg [Polokwane] district, Malips Drift , s.d., s.c. s.n., Flowered in Stellenbosch University Garden, August 1933, H. Herre SUG6774 (holotype BOL [Image available at https://plants. jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.bol140159]) .

Nomenclatural note on the type of the name Aloe immaculata :— Reynolds (1950: 240) noted that the type specimen of A. immaculata is not typical of the species. This could be because the plant was cultivated outside of its natural distribution range or as a result of possible hybridisation at the original collecting site (see further under ‘Notes’ below). It is not known by who and when the plant that provided the type material was collected in the field. When it flowered in August 1933 in the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden, a specimen was prepared by the then curator of the garden, Hans Herre. This specimen was designated as type when Pillans (1934) described A. immaculata as a new species.

Description:—Plants medium-sized, low-growing, solitary, rosette erect, up to 450 mm tall. Stem ± absent or short, to 100(–150) mm long, simple, thickened lower down if present, clothed in persistent, twisted, dried leaves. Leaves very densely rosulate, erect at first, then horizontally spreading, lanceolate-attenuate, (150–)250(–300) mm long, (60–)70(–80) mm wide at base, apical portion dry, twisted; adaxial surface dull green to brownish green, usually immaculate, or with very few scattered spots towards base, faintly to distinctly longitudinally brownish- to greenish- to purplish-lined, lines narrow, not confluent, adaxially flat to canaliculate, texture smooth; abaxial surface dull greyish green to brownish green, immaculate, paler than adaxial surface, sometimes very finely greenish-lined; margins shiny brown to shiny reddish brown, armed with prominent, short, very pungent, elongated deltoid, shiny-brown, yellowishtipped teeth, 4–5(–6) mm long, (7–)10(–5) mm apart, straight to variously curved towards leaf base; exudate drying purple. Inflorescence usually only one produced per season, to ± 1 m tall, erect to slightly leaning, (6–)10(–16)- branched panicle, usually branched below middle, branches gracefully curved upwards; peduncle stout, lacking sterile bracts below racemes, panicle branches subtended by prominent fertile bracts of 15–50 mm long, irregularly deltoid to lanceolate-triangular, dull light brown to creamy white, drying rapidly, distinctly longitudinally dark brown lined. Racemes subcapitate to conical and round-topped, tapering upwards or round-topped, 100–130 mm long, 80–90 mm wide where flowers are at anthesis, rather densely flowered; buds erect to erectly spreading, flowers pendulous at anthesis. Floral bracts narrowly lanceolate, variously twisted, 8–12 mm long, much narrower than fertile bracts, as long as or slightly shorter than pedicels, creamy white, drying rapidly, 3–many dark brown-nerved. Pedicels (10–) 12– 15 mm long, orange to reddish orange when young, light green with age. Flowers: perianth: buds ± uniformly coral red to dull pink, dark-tipped; open flowers ± uniformly coral red, orange or pink for basal ⅔, alternately light pink and dark-coloured in apical ⅓, ± 28–34 mm long, ± 6–7 mm across ovary, narrowed above ovary to yield bulbous base, distinctly enlarged towards mouth, middle ± straight to down-curved, widening towards mouth; tips of segments slightly spreading, outer segments free for ⅓ of their length; stamens with filiform-flattened filaments, uniformly light yellow, exserted for up to 1–2 mm; ovary 6–7 mm long, 3 mm in diam., light green; style well-exserted, uniformly light yellow; stigma tiny, very slightly capitate, yellowish. Fruit a light green to purplish green capsule, 15–20 × 8–10 mm, dry remains of perigone persistent for long time. Seed not seen. Chromosome number: 2 n = 14 ( Riley & Majumdar 1979: 46).

Flowering time: — Aloe immaculata flowers between May and August (winter in the southern hemisphere), and often into September (spring).

Habitat: — Aloe immaculata grows in often very dense grassy patches in bushveld (savanna) vegetation.

Distribution: — Aloe immaculata is only known with certainty from the Chuenespoort and Malipsdrift areas in Limpopo province, South Africa ( Fig. 3 ). Outlying forms resembling A. immaculata have been recorded from Makapan’s Valley further to the west.

Notes: —From unpublished correspondence (held at Herb. BOL) between G.W. Reynolds and N.S. Pillans, it is evident that Reynolds spent many hours studying the aloes at and near the type locality of A. immaculata during several visits to that area. Reynolds (1950) concluded that there is a high incidence of hybridisation among the winterflowering maculate aloes [namely A. immaculata , A. greatheadii , A. davyana , and A. mutans ] in the region between Chuenespoort and the Olifants River (near Malipsdrift)—the natural geographic distribution range of A. immaculata . However, Reynolds was convinced, as are we, that A. immaculata represents a distinct species that is characterised by unspotted, distinctly brown-lined leaves in solitary rosettes, with racemes that are cylindrical and round-topped, and longer than in A. greatheadii , but shorter and not as pyramidal as in A. davyana . He concluded that, where plants have leaves with few to many, usually obscure spots, the inflorescences are either more capitate or more pyramidal, leading Reynolds to believe that these plants represent hybrids between A. immaculata and A. greatheadii or A. davyana , respectively ( Reynolds 1950, and unpublished correspondence and notes held at Herbs BOL and PRE).

Since the spellings ‘Chunies Poort’ or ‘Chuniespoort’ were used historically, including on specimen labels, these spellings are retained for the place names from where the specimens cited below were collected. Note though that the standardised spelling is ‘Chuenespoort’ ( Raper et al. 2014: 71).

Additional specimens investigated: — SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo province. Malips River Valley , 11 July 1937 , G.W. Reynolds 2518 (K; PRE, 2 sheets). Malips River Valley, Bewaarkloof road, 11 July 1937 , G.W. Reynolds 2516 (K; PRE); G.W. Reynolds 2517 ( PRE). Mphatlele’s location, 15 May 1914 , I.B. Pole Evans 169 ( PRE). Near Chuniespoort , May 1935 , G.W. Reynolds 1347A & B ( PRE, 2 sheets). East of Chunies Poort Police Post , 11 August 1935 , G.W. Reynolds 1530 (K; PRE). East of Chunies Poort Police Post on road to Malips Drift, 21 May 1936, G.W. Reynolds 1582 (GRA; K; PRE). East of Chuniespoort, 28 June 2007, O. Grace, E. van Wyk, L.A. Nkuna & W.F. Mabatha 62 (K; PRE) ; O. Grace, E. van Wyk, L.A. Nkuna & W.F. Mabatha 64 (K, 2 sheets). South of Chuniespoort , 28 June 2007, G.F. Smith 1159 ( PRU) .

Specimens resembling A. immaculata : — SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo province. Makapan Valley, 20 July 1951, B. Maguire 907 ( K; NBG, 4 sheets; PRE) . Between Lydenburg & Chuniespoort , May 1932, fl. June 1934 in Garden at DPI [Pretoria], I.B. Pole Evans PRE38083 ( PRE). [These localities are not included in the distribution map presented in Fig. 3 .]

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aloe immaculata. A. Plant in habitat at Chuenespoort, Limpopo province,SouthAfrica.B. Plant in habitat south of Polokwane, Limpopo province, South Africa. The flowers of this form are coral red. C. The colour of the immaculate leaves varies from dull green to brownish green. D. The racemes are sub-capitate to conical and round-topped. 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).