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Aloe arborescens [family ALOACEAE]

Date Updated: 19 August 2007

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 arborescens [family ALOACEAE]
Common names
A. perfoliata L. var. r| L.: 320 (1753). Iconotype: A. africana caulescens, foliis glaucis caulem amplectentibus C.Commelijn, Horti medici Amstelaedamensis: 27, t. 14 (1706). A. arborea Medik.: 305 (1783). Based on A. arborescens Mill. A.fruticosa Lam.: 87 (1783); Pers.: 378 (1805). Type: not cited. Catevala arborescens (Mill.) Medik.: 67 (1786). Type: not cited. A. perfoliata L. a arborescens (Mill.) Aiton: 466 (1789). Type: not cited. A.frutescens Salm-Dyck: 30 (1817); Haw.: 46 (1819). A. arborescens Mill. var. frutescens (Salm-Dyck) Link: 339 (1821); Baker: 322 (1896a); A.Berger: 293 (1908); Pole Evans: t. 187 (1925b). Type: not cited. A. natalensis J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans: 9 (1900); J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans: 170 (1901); J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans: t. 258 (1902). A. arborescens Mill. var. natal­ensis (J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans) A.Berger: 290 (1908); C.H.Wright: t. 8663 (1916). Type: KwaZulu-Natal, Inanda, Wood 4342 (NH, holo.!; K!; PRE, photo.!). A. arborescens Mill. var. milled A.Berger: 288 (1908). Type: Hort. Palermo, Schweinfurth s.n. (B?). A. arborescens Mill. var. pachythyrsa A.Berger: 292 (1908). Iconotype: A.Berger in Das Pflanzenreich 33: 292 (1908). A. mutabilis Pillans: 167 (1933c); Pole Evans: t. 611 (1936j); Reynolds: 418 (1950); Jeppe: 49 (1969); Bornman & D.S.Hardy: 227 (1972); B.-E. van Wyk & G.F.Sm.: 84 (1996). Type: Northern Province, near Warmbaths, J.C. van Balen BOL20477 (= NBG2720/29) (BOL!).
Information
Much-branched arborescent shrubs up to 3 m tall; if on rock faces then solitary to few-branched. Leaves many per rosette, spreading to slightly reflexed, 250-600 x 20-70 mm, blue-green. Inflorescence usually a simple, rarely branched, dense, broadly conical, ± 800 mm long raceme; bracts ovate-acute, 12-20 x 7-12 mm, many-nerved. Flowers scarlet throughout, or becoming yellow at anthesis, 30-40 mm long; pedicels 20^-0 mm long. Anthers exsert­ed 1-5 mm. Ovary 4-10 x 1.5-3.0 mm, green; style exserted 3-9 mm. Fruit ± 22 x 6-7 mm, pale grey. Flowering season (April to) June to July, depending on locality.
Use
96. Aloe arborescens Mill., The gardener's dictionary: no. 3 (1768); DC.: t. 38 (1800); Andrews: t. 468 (1807); Ker GawL: t. 1306 (1810c); W.TAiton: 292 (1811); Haw.: 76 (1812); Salm-Dyck: 26, t. 3 (1849); Baker: 322 (1896a); A.Berger: 288 (1908); Reynolds: 407 (1950); Adamson: 171 (1950); Jeppe: 48 (1969); Bornman & D.S.Hardy: 223 (1972); Palmer & Pitman: 375 (1972); West: 91 (1974); Compton: 97 (1976); B.-E. van Wyk & G.F.Sm.: 74 (1996). Neotype: Eastern Cape, Fort Cunyng-hame, Galpin 2463 (PRE, holo.!; GRA!), here designated.
Range
Aloe arborescens is found in Botswana, Swaziland, the Northern Province, North-West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western and Eastern Cape; also in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It usually occurs in pockets of rich soil on rocky outcrops in mountains in areas of high summer rainfall. The Cape Peninsula populations are also found in rocky places, but here the highest rainfall is in winter. Plants growing on deep soil probably indicate abandoned sites of cultivation. Map 68.
Aloe arborescens [family ALOACEAE]
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