South African National Biodiversity Institute, Compton Herbarium, Cape Town (SAM)
Collection
Flora of Southern Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of South Africa, (2003) Author: Dr J.P. Roux
Names
Aloe lutescens [family ALOACEAE]
Information
Plants short-stemmed, 500-800 mm tall excluding inflorescence, sometimes suckering to form lax to dense groups. Leaves ± 30, arcuate-erect to spreading, 400-600 x 60-90 mm, yelÂlowish green. Inflorescence usually 3-branched; sterile bracts only subtending branches; racemes dense; bracts broadly ovate-acuminate, 10-15 x 5-15 mm, ± 7-nerved. Flowers scarlet in bud, yellow at flowering, 23-35 mm long; all segÂments free; pedicels 13-15 mm long, lengthenÂing to 17-25 mm in fruit. Anthers exserted up to 3 mm. Ovary 5-8 x 2-A mm, green; style exserted 2-6 mm. Fruit 16-30 x 12-15 mm, grey to reddish. Flowering time July to August.
Habitat
In this species the leaves turn yellowish when drought-stricken, rather than reddish or brownish as in A. cryptopoda (no. 77). Other differences between this species and A. crypÂtopoda are discussed under that species.
Use
78. Aloe lutescens Groenew. ex Pole Evans in The Flowering Plants of South Africa 18: t. 707 (1938c); Reynolds: 337 (1950); Jeppe: 60 (1969); Bornman & D.S.Hardy: 183 (1972); West: 66 (1974); B.-E. van Wyk & G.F.Sm.: 146 (1996). Type: Northern Province, Tshipise, F.Z. van der Merwe 1377 (PRE!).
Range
Aloe lutescens grows in hot savanna woodÂland in the Northern Province; also in MozamÂbique and Zimbabwe. It grows in very sandy soils and sometimes on calcrete. Nowhere in its distribution range does it encounter frost or high rainfall. Map 54.
