Aloe falcata [family ALOACEAE]

Herbarium
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 falcata [family ALOACEAE]
Information
Plants stemless or short-stemmed, 200-400 mm tall, in solid groups. Leaves ± 20, erect, lanceolate, 250-400 x 40-70 mm, grey-green to glaucous. Inflorescence with 10 or more branches, erect, up to 600 mm tall; racemes subdense, subcylindric; bracts narrowly deltoid-acuminate, 16-18 x 3-5 mm, ± 5-nerved. Flowers red, rarely yellow, 21-40 mm long; mouth straight; outer segments free for 5-10 mm, inner segments free but dorsally adnate to outer for ± two thirds of their length; pedicels 5-18 mm long, lengthening to 15-25 mm in fruit. Anthers exserted 5-8 mm. Ovary 4.0-7.0 x 1.5-3.0 mm, green; style exserted 1-10 mm. Fruit 20-27 x 8-14 mm, grey to charcoal-grey. Flowering time December.
Habitat
Plants of this species usually form small, dense groups of five to six rosettes. The leaves are rough to the touch, falcately upcurved and grey-green to glaucous; the upper surface is slightly channelled, but flat towards the base, and the lower surface is convex with a slight keel near the apex. This species can readily be distinguished from A. asperifolia (no. 67) by its arcuate-ascending inflorescence and laxly flow­ered racemes which terminate in acute apices.
Use
69. Aloe falcata Baker in Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany 18: 181 (1880a); Baker: 326 (1896a); A.Berger: 218 (1908); Reynolds: 316 (1950); Jeppe: 27 (1969); Bornman & D.S.Hardy: 167 (1972); B.-E. van Wyk & G.F.Sm.: 80 (1996). Type: North­ern Cape, Calvinia Division, Zeyher 1678 (K, holo.!; PRE, photo.!).
Range
Aloe falcata grows on shallow soil on rocky outcrops in some of the most arid parts of the Northern and Western Cape. Summers are hot and extremely dry, and winters are frost-free and the season in which the small amounts of rain falling in this area can be expected. Fog is frequent at night. The vegetation falls into Acocks's (1988) Succulent Karoo veld type. Map 49.
Aloe falcata [family ALOACEAE]
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