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Aloe pluridens [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 pluridens [family ALOACEAE]
Common names
A. atherstonei Baker: 170 (1880a). Type: Eastern Cape, no precise locality, Atherstone s.n. (K). A. pluridens Haw. var. beckeri Schonland: 43 (1903). Type: Hort. (?) Mauritius, Becker s.n. (GRA!).
Information
Plants arborescent, 2-3(-5) m tall; stems with few branches, rarely simple. Leaves 30-40 per rosette, spreading to recurved, 450-700 x 35-60 mm, pale green to yellow-green, obscurely lined. Inflorescences dense, conical racemes with up to 4 branches, 0.8-1.0 m tall, without sterile bracts below first branch; bracts ovate-acute to obovate-obtuse, 15-20 x 6-12 mm, many-nerved. Flower salmon-pink to scar­let, 35-45 mm long; pedicels 17-35 mm long. Anthers exserted up to 4 mm. Ovary 6-11 x 2-4 mm, green; style exserted up to 8 mm. Fruit ± 20 x 11 mm, yellow-brown. Flowering time May to June.
Habitat
This species is taller and more sparsely branched than A. arborescens (no. 96). The leaves are narrower and more yellowish green, and the racemes are laxer, narrower and more acute than those of A. arborescens. The leaf teeth are pinkish white, not glaucous white, and the leaf sap has a distinctive sharp odour. The only other tall, single-stemmed Aloe in the range of A. pluridens is A. ferox (no. 110), which is a much stouter plant with broader, firmer leaves and dense subcylindric racemes of subsessile flowers.
Use
97. Aloe pluridens Haw. in The Philo­sophical Magazine 64: 299 (1824); Baker: 322 (1896a); A.Berger: 294 (1908); Marloth: 76 (1915); Pole Evans: t. 610 (1936k); Reynolds: 415 (1950); Jeppe: 47 (1969); Bornman & D.S.Hardy: 225 (1972); Glen & G.F.Sm.: 41 (1995); B.-E. van Wyk & G.F.Sm.: 60 (1996). Neotype: Eastern Cape, near Fort Beaufort, Reynolds 1419 (PRE!).
Range
Aloe pluridens is found in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Near the southern Cape coast it usually occurs on relatively deep sandy soil in valley bushveld. In this area rain may fall at any time, with a summer maximum, and the average annual rainfall is relatively low. Map 67.

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 pluridens [family ALOACEAE]
Common names
A. atherstonei Baker: 170 (1880a). Type: Eastern Cape, no precise locality, Atherstone s.n. (K). A. pluridens Haw. var. beckeri Schonland: 43 (1903). Type: Hort. (?) Mauritius, Becker s.n. (GRA!).
Information
Plants arborescent, 2-3(-5) m tall; stems with few branches, rarely simple. Leaves 30-40 per rosette, spreading to recurved, 450-700 x 35-60 mm, pale green to yellow-green, obscurely lined. Inflorescences dense, conical racemes with up to 4 branches, 0.8-1.0 m tall, without sterile bracts below first branch; bracts ovate-acute to obovate-obtuse, 15-20 x 6-12 mm, many-nerved. Flower salmon-pink to scar­let, 35-45 mm long; pedicels 17-35 mm long. Anthers exserted up to 4 mm. Ovary 6-11 x 2-4 mm, green; style exserted up to 8 mm. Fruit ± 20 x 11 mm, yellow-brown. Flowering time May to June.
Habitat
This species is taller and more sparsely branched than A. arborescens (no. 96). The leaves are narrower and more yellowish green, and the racemes are laxer, narrower and more acute than those of A. arborescens. The leaf teeth are pinkish white, not glaucous white, and the leaf sap has a distinctive sharp odour. The only other tall, single-stemmed Aloe in the range of A. pluridens is A. ferox (no. 110), which is a much stouter plant with broader, firmer leaves and dense subcylindric racemes of subsessile flowers.
Use
97. Aloe pluridens Haw. in The Philo­sophical Magazine 64: 299 (1824); Baker: 322 (1896a); A.Berger: 294 (1908); Marloth: 76 (1915); Pole Evans: t. 610 (1936k); Reynolds: 415 (1950); Jeppe: 47 (1969); Bornman & D.S.Hardy: 225 (1972); Glen & G.F.Sm.: 41 (1995); B.-E. van Wyk & G.F.Sm.: 60 (1996). Neotype: Eastern Cape, near Fort Beaufort, Reynolds 1419 (PRE!).
Range
Aloe pluridens is found in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Near the southern Cape coast it usually occurs on relatively deep sandy soil in valley bushveld. In this area rain may fall at any time, with a summer maximum, and the average annual rainfall is relatively low. Map 67.
Aloe pluridens [family ALOACEAE]
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