taxonID	type	description	language	source
03A887C4FF8F6A68FF7AE041FD20FA0D.taxon	materials_examined	Type: — SOUTH AFRICA. Eastern Cape province. — 3224 (Graaff-Reinet): 31 km north of Jansenville along N 9, ± 4 km south of Melkrivier, southeastern Karoo, a natural habitat of A. claviflora and A. ferox, (– CA), 29 October 2024, G. F. Smith 1230 (holotype Herb. PRU). Parentage: — Aloe claviflora Burchell (1822: 272) × Aloe ferox Miller (1768: species no. 22, 2 nd page headed “ ALO | ALO ”). Diagnosis: — Plants of A. × bornmanii, the nothospecies with A. claviflora and A. ferox as parents, are low-growing to medium-sized, generally solitary, and their rosettes consist of erectly disposed to incurved, glaucous green leaves. Inflorescences are erectly-leaning, branched low down, with erect, broadly cylindrical racemes that hardly taper upwards. Flowers of A. × bornmanii are cigar-shaped to very slightly club-shaped, bright orange, and the perigone segments are apically conspicuously recurved. In contrast to A. × bornmanii, the stems of A. claviflora, one of its parents, creep along the ground and the rosettes are turned sideways and upwards, with the rosettes in time forming a ‘ fairy ring’. Its inflorescences are borne horizontally and the flowers are club-shaped and red. On the other hand, A. ferox, the other parent of A. × bornmanii, is essentially a single-stemmed, tree aloe that carries its inflorescences erectly. Flower colour varies from red through orange to yellow and white. At the type locality of A. × bornmanii the species is orange-flowered. Description: — Plants perennial, medium-sized, erect to leaning sideways, solitary or very slowly sprouting basally, unbranched higher up, to (0.3 –) 0.4 (– 0.5) m tall when not in flower. Stem usually absent, erect to slightly leaning when present, lower down clothed in persistent, somewhat twisted, variously curved, dry leaves. Leaves 250 – 400 mm long, basally 70 – 80 mm wide, glaucous green to dull brownish green, immaculate throughout, broadly lanceolate, turgid throughout, densely rosulate, ± erect when young, older leaves variously haphazardly horizontally spreading, somewhat recurved; adaxial surface generally smooth; abaxial surface with median keel higher up adorned with lengthwise aligned low, pungent teeth; margins reddish brown to dark chocolate brown, armed with pungent, shiny, dark brown deltoid teeth; teeth 3 – 4 (– 5) mm long, 11 – 15 mm apart, straight or very slightly curved towards leaf apex; leaf sap yellowish brown. Inflorescence a compact panicle, usually four-branched, one produced per flowering season, 0.5 – 0.6 m tall, erect to slanted sideways, branched from well below middle; branches ± slantederect, remaining so when flowers reach anthesis, central raceme the longest. Peduncle very stout, with several large, scattered, sterile bracts above point of branching of panicle; bracts 12 – 20 mm long, drying rapidly, dull greyish brown, deltoid to elongated-deltoid. Racemes broadly cylindrical throughout, hardly tapering upwards, 300 – 350 (– 400) mm long, ± 90 – 100 mm wide where flowers are at anthesis, dense-flowered throughout; buds horizontally spreading just before anthesis, flowers horizontally spreading to pendent at anthesis. Floral bracts elongated-deltoid, basally clasping the pedicel, flexed outwards higher up, narrower and more elongated than sterile bracts. Pedicels 8 – 11 mm long. Flowers: perianth bright orange, green-lined toward apex, dark green-tipped when in bud, uniformly bright orange when open, copiously nectariferous, 28 – 32 mm long, ± 5 – 6 mm across ovary, widening above ovary, enlarged towards the middle, somewhat abruptly tapering to mouth, ± straight, cigar-shaped; tips of segments spreading to recurved, outer segments free for 18 – 21 mm; stamens with filiform-flattened filaments, included and exserted part uniformly light yellow, substantially exserted for up to 30 mm; anthers orange to dark yellowish brown, drying dark brown once pollen shed; ovary 6 – 7 mm long, 2.5 – 3.0 mm in diameter, light green; style well-exserted, included and exserted parts uniformly light yellowish green; stigma small, hardly capitate, yellowish white. Fruit not recorded. Seed not recorded. Chromosome number: unknown. Chromosome numbers of parents: Aloe claviflora 2 n = 14 (Riley & Majumdar 1979: 44) and A. ferox 2 n = 14 (Riley & Majumdar 1979: 45). Eponymy: — Aloe × bornmanii is named for botanical artist Hans Bornman † (? – 27 March 2024) (see Bakkes 2024 for a brief obituary) who, jointly with David S. Hardy (1931 – 1998), produced a work on South African Aloe that was illustrated with Bornman’s paintings of all the species then known (Bornman & Hardy 1971). As sole author Bornman wrote at least 18 books on topics related to the Lowveld of South Africa — essentially the eastern parts of Mpumalanga — but none of these dealt exclusively with botanical matters. One of his most recent works was a treatise on the owls of southern, central, and western Africa, including a few from Madagascar and the little-known Shelley’s Eagle Owl that has a conservation status of ‘ Vulnerable’ (Bornman 2022). The latter work was illustrated by his owl paintings reproduced in black-and-white (Fig. 6).	en	Smith, Gideon F., Klopper, Ronell R. (2025): The natural hybrid between Aloe claviflora and A. ferox (Asphodelaceae [subfam. Asphodeloideae] tr. Aloeae) described as A. × bornmanii. Phytotaxa 710 (2): 211-220, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.710.2.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.710.2.6
