Entry From
Flora of South Africa, (2003) Author: Dr J.P. Roux
Common names
A. longiaristata Schult. & Schult.f.: 684 (1829); Salm-Dyck: 15, t. 7 (1837); Glen & G.F.Sm.: 38 (1995). Neotype: Salm-Dyck, Monographia generum Aloes et Mesem-bryanthemi 15: t. 7 (1837). A. aristata Haw. var. leiophylla Baker: 156 (1880a); Baker: 307 (1896a); A.Berger: 176 (1908). Type: Cape, no precise locality, Cooper s.n. (K!). A. aristata Haw. var. parviflora Baker: 307 (1896a); A.Berger: 177 (1908). Type: South Africa, no precise localÂity, Cooper s.n. (K!). A. ellenbergii Guillaumin: 119 (1934). Type: Lesotho, no precise locality, Ellenberg sub Baltzerf27 (P).
Habitat
Many characters make this species quite unmistakable for any other in the genus. The dry awn-tipped leaf apices and leaf tubercles are unique among southern African species of Aloe. Outside the FSA region, they are found only in A. haworthioides, a Madagascan species. The long, downward-curved flowers with slight basal swellings are unique in the genus, and this species, more than any other, has a tendency towards flowers and pedicels that are darker in colour above (where they receive direct sunÂlight) than below (where they are in their own shadow).
Range
Found in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho and the Western and Eastern Cape. Aloe aristata occurs in a wide variety of habiÂtats, including sandy soil in hot, dry karoo areas, deep shade on humus-rich soil in riverine forest and grassland on high mountains in Lesotho. In dry karroid areas the leaves are greyish, erect, longer and narrower than usual, with more pronounced tubercles. In grassland in wetter areas the leaves are bright green, broadÂer than usual and spreading, sometimes even slightly reflexed in very damp shade. Map 22.
![Aloe aristata [family ALOACEAE]](/fsi/img/misc/plants/static_thumbs/cover_florasa_icon96.jpg)