Aloe suprafoliata Pole-Evans

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

NE Aloe suprafoliata Pole-Evans

Common names.

Book aloe (English); boekaalwyn (Afrikaans); icena, umhlabandlazi (Zulu).

Description.

Acaulescent plants or rarely with short stem, up to 0.5 m high, erect or procumbent; rosettes solitary, sometimes in small groups. Leaves distichous in young plants becoming densely rosulate, widely spreading to recurved, bluish-green to bluish-grey, more milky bluish-grey on lower surface, turning reddish-brown near apex, unspotted, obscurely lineate, texture smooth, lanceolate-acuminate, 30-40 cm long, 5-7 cm wide, with ± 8 cm dried twisted apex; margin with deltoid, sometimes bifid, reddish-brown teeth, 2-5 mm long, 5-10 mm apart; exudate clear. Inflorescence 0.6-2.0 m high, erect, simple. Raceme conical to cylindrical-acuminate, up to 25 cm long, 10 cm wide, rather dense. Floral bracts 15-20 mm long, 9-13 mm wide. Pedicels 14-20 mm long. Flowers: perianth red, blue-grey tipped in bud, becoming rose-pink to scarlet red, greenish tipped, with a bloom, 33-50 mm long, 6-7 mm across ovary and throughout, cylindrical-trigonous, straight; outer segments free to base; stamens not or very slightly exserted; style exserted 1-2 mm.

Flowering time.

May-July.

Habitat.

Usually occurs in cracks in rocks or near sheer cliffs, along or near top of mountains, on rocks or rocky slopes in montane grassland or in places where soil is virtually absent or too thin to support other vegetation. Most localities receive frequent mist.

Diagnostic characters.

Aloe suprafoliata can be distinguished from other virtually acaulescent, non-maculate aloes in KwaZulu-Natal ( Aristaloe aristata , Aloe chabaudii var. chabaudii , Aloe gerstneri , Aloe pratensis , Aloe reitzii var. vernalis and Aloe vanbalenii ) by usually having solitary rosettes with leaves always distichous in young plants, becoming densely rosulate. Although other aloes also have distichous leaves when juveniles, this character persists for longer in A. suprafoliata . It is further characterised by having widely spreading to recurved, bluish-green to bluish-grey leaves (30-40 × 5-7 cm) with rather pungent marginal teeth. The inflorescence is erect, 0.6-2.0 m high and simple. The narrow racemes (up to 25 × 10 cm) have a silvery sheen with the flower buds hidden by large rounded silvery green floral bracts (15-20 mm long). Pedicels are erect (14-20 mm). Flowers are rose-pink to scarlet-red, up to 50 mm long and pencil-shaped.

Conservation status.

Least Concern ( Raimondo et al. 2009).

Distribution.

Northern KwaZulu-Natal and just into eastern Mpumalanga in South Africa, as well as Eswatini (Fig. 43 ).

Figures

Figure 43. Aloe suprafoliata. Photo: N. R. Crouch.