Aloe littoralis
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record (Click here to see images of this plant from Kyffhäuser)
Image 1
Habit
27 Dec 2019
Image 2
Leaves
27 Dec 2019
Image 3
Habitat
27 Dec 2019
| Family: | Asphodelaceae |
| Full name: | Aloe littoralis Baker |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Bergaalwyn, Windhoekaalwyn, Mopanie-aalwyn |
| English common name(s): | Windhoek aloe, Mountain aloe |
| Synonym(s): | Aloe angolensis Baker uncertain synonymy. accepted by FSA Aloe rubrolutea Schinz - excl. specim. Hahn s.n. in Reynolds 2423 et distrib. Ovamboland Aloe schinzii Baker |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | A shrub 6–10 ft. high, with a usually simple trunk, as thick as a man's arm, rarely thicker. Leaves densely rosulate, unspotted, ensiform, acuminate, 2–3 ft. long, 2–2.5 in. broad low down; marginal teeth spreading, horny, deltoid, 0.0833 in. long. Peduncle panicled, 4–5 ft. long, including the inflorescence; racemes cylindrical, moderately dense, 1 ft. long; pedicels 0.25– 0.333 in. long; bracts ovate-lanceolate, rather longer than the pedicels. Perianth 1 in. long; tube very short. Stamens as long as the perianth. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical Africa) rees; stems solitary, 2-4 m tall. Leaves 30-40, arcuate-erect to slightly reflexed, 300-650 x 65-130 mm, shallowly channelled, greyish green to yellowish green, sometimes tinged reddish, usually unspotted, rarely with white spots, without prickles. Inflorescence of conical, sublax racemes; many-branched, 1.0-1.5 m tall; bracts lanceolate-acuminate, 9-18 x 4-8 mm, 5-many-nerved. Flowers red or pink, rarely yellow, 23-34 mm long, cylindric-trigo-nous; outer segments connate in lower half, inner segments free but adnate to outer in lower half; pedicels 6-12 mm long. Anthers exserted 1-5 mm. Ovary 5.0-8.0 x 2.5-4.0 mm, olive-green; style exserted 2-10 mm. Fruit 18-28 x 10-15 mm, grey. Seeds ±9.0 x 4.0 x 1.5 mm, charcoal-grey, with broad, pale grey, dark-spotted wing. Flowering time July to February, varying according to locality. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Southern Africa) Perennial herb or small tree, solitary, usually caulescent, with a thick simple stem to 2(4) m high covered with persistent withered leaves. Leaves in a compact rosette, erect-spreading; lamina to 60 cm long, c. 12 cm wide at the base, lanceolate, pale greyish-green, tinged reddish in dry conditions, without spots when mature but a few spots present on young plants; margin cartilaginous, yellow, with pungent deltoid, red-brown teeth 2–4 mm long and 10–15 mm apart; sap dries yellow. Inflorescence erect, 1–2 m tall above the leaf rosette; peduncle up to 10-branched, the lower branches usually rebranching; branches curving upwards bearing the racemes erect, subtended by deltoid scarious bracts c. 15 x 15 mm, with a few sterile bracts below each raceme. Racemes 30–60 x 6 cm, cylindrical-acuminate, laxly flowered; bracts 12–15 x 6 mm, lanceolate, scarious, whitish, deflexed in fruit; pedicels 6–10 mm long elongating to c. 15 mm in fruit. Perianth pinkish-red, yellowish toward the mouth, with a bloom, 27–34 mm long, 6 mm in diameter across the ovary, cylindric-trigonous; outer segments free to c. halfway, with slightly recurved tips. Stamens and stigma slightly exserted. Capsule 20 x 10 mm, oblong-ovoid, pale greyish-brown. Seeds 4.5 x 8.5 mm, black with broad white wings. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Zambesiaca) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
