Aloe rupestris [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 rupestris [family ALOACEAE]
Common names
A. nitens Baker: 170 (1880a); Baker: 325 (1896a); C.H.Wright: t. 8147 (1907); A.Berger: 313 (1908); Pole Evans: t. 221 (1926b) non Schult. & Schult.f.. Type: Eastern Cape (?), no precise locality, Barkly s.n. (K!).
Information
Trees; stems 6-8 m tall, usually simple. Leaves 3CMK), erect to recurved, 300-750 x 35-100 mm, channelled, deep green, without surface prickles. Inflorescence with 12-18 racemes, 1.0-1.3 m tall; racemes very dense, cylindric; bracts oblong, 1-2 x 2-3 mm. Flowers orange-yellow in bud, lemon at flowering, 15-20 mm long, cylindric-ventricose; outer segments connate in lower half, inner segments free but dorsally adnate to outer for ± 5-6 mm; pedicels 1-2 mm long. Anthers exserted 7-15 mm; fila­ments vermilion. Ovary 4-5 x 2-3 mm, green; style deep orange, exserted 7-20 mm. Fruit not seen. Flowering time August to September.
Habitat
This species is close to A. thraskii (no. 113) and A. excelsa (no. 115). The stem of A. rupestris sometimes branches, unlike A. excel­sa, and the leaves are smaller and lack the sur­face prickles which are common in A. excelsa. The racemes of A. rupestris are erect, while those of A. excelsa are more or less oblique. In A. thraskii, the leaves are much longer than those of A. rupestris, and are deeply channelled and reflexed. The racemes of A. thraskii are much broader than those of A. rupestris, the flowers are longer and brown, not orange-yel­low becoming lemon-yellow, and the exserted portions of the stamens and styles of A. thraskii emerge from the flower at an angle, not straight as in A. rupestris.
Use
112. Aloe rupestris Baker in T.-Dyer, Flora capensis 6: 327 (1896); A.Berger: 313 (1908); Pole Evans: t. 178 (1925f); Reynolds: 473 (1950); Jeppe: 44 (1969); Bornman & D.S.Hardy: 265 (1972); Palmer & Pitman: 387 (1972); Compton: 101 (1976); B.-E. van Wyk & G.F.Sm.: 64 (1996). Type: Hort. Cape Town, MacOwan 1556 (= SAM22686) (K, holo.!; SAM!; PRE, photo.!).
Range
Aloe rupestris occurs in Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique in Zululand thornveld, sometimes in dense bush, usually on rocky outcrops. It grows in areas with warm, completely frost-free winters. There is a sight record of this species from southern Mozam­bique, quoted by Reynolds (1950: 475). Map 79.
Aloe rupestris [family ALOACEAE]
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