Aloiampelos tenuior (Haw.) Klopper & Gideon F.Sm.

Klopper, Ronell R., Crouch, Neil R., Smith, Gideon F. & van Wyk, Abraham E., 2020, A synoptic review of the aloes (Asphodelaceae, Alooideae) of KwaZulu-Natal, an ecologically diverse province in eastern South Africa, PhytoKeys 142, pp. 1-88 : 1

Aloiampelos tenuior (Haw.) Klopper & Gideon F.Sm.

Syn.

Aloe tenuior Haw.

Common names.

Fence aloe, gardener’s aloe (English); heiningaalwyn, heuningaalwyn (Afrikaans).

Description.

Tangled shrub of 0.6 m or higher. Stems slender, 1-3 m long, branched low down or higher, erectly spreading or scandent to recurved or decumbent, without persistent dried leaves. Leaves cauline dispersed, erectly spreading, glaucous green, without spots, linear-lanceolate, 10-18 cm long, 1.0-2.2 cm wide; sheath obscurely green-lineate, not auriculate, 0.5-2.5 cm long; margin narrow, white, cartilaginous, with minute, white teeth, up to 0.5 mm long, 1-2 mm apart. Inflorescence 0.3-0.4 m high, ascending to erect, simple or 1- or 2-branched. Racemes cylindrical, slightly acuminate, 10-20 cm long, rather dense to dense. Floral bracts ± 5 mm long, 1-2 mm wide. Pedicels 3-5 mm long. Flowers: perianth yellow, orange or red with yellow tips, 11-15 mm long, ± 2 mm across ovary, very slightly narrowed above ovary, widening towards mouth, cylindrical; outer segments free for 3-6 mm; stamens and style exserted 4-6 mm.

Flowering time.

(August) October-December (May).

Habitat.

Often in open habitats on sandy soils, more rarely in thicket vegetation, sometimes on steep slopes. In contrast, other species of Aloiampelos that do not occur in KwaZulu-Natal, such as A. ciliaris (Haw.) Klopper & Gideon F.Sm. from the Eastern Cape, more commonly occur in thicket or fynbos.

Diagnostic characters.

Aloiampelos tenuior is the only aloe indigenous to KwaZulu-Natal that forms an untidy tangled shrub with thin slender stems. Also diagnostic is its cauline dispersed, blue-green leaves, with distinct sheaths that are obscurely lined. Racemes are elongated, with small red, orange or yellow cylindrical, uncurved flowers and long-exserted stamens and style.

Conservation status.

Least Concern ( Raimondo et al. 2009).

Distribution.

Occurs from the Port Elizabeth and Jansenville areas in the Eastern Cape into southern KwaZulu-Natal, the Richmond area and then with a disjunct distribution in northern KwaZulu-Natal on the border with Mpumalanga (South Africa) and Eswatini (Fig. 2 ).

Figures

Figure 2. Aloiampelos tenuior. Photos: N. R. Crouch.