Aloe chabaudii Schoenland var. chabaudii

Klopper, Ronell R., Crouch, Neil R., Smith, Gideon F. & van Wyk, Abraham E., 2020, A synoptic review of the aloes (Asphodelaceae, Alooideae) of KwaZulu-Natal, an ecologically diverse province in eastern South Africa, PhytoKeys 142, pp. 1-88 : 1

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.142.48365

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/031DABDC-9690-50CC-8860-FF89EC48EFD3

treatment provided by

PhytoKeys by Pensoft

scientific name

Aloe chabaudii Schoenland var. chabaudii
status

 

Aloe chabaudii Schoenland var. chabaudii

Common names.

Chabaud’s aloe (English); grysaalwyn (Afrikaans); inhlaba, inkalane (Zulu).

Description.

Acaulescent plants or stem very short, procumbent; rosettes up to 0.5 m high, suckering or dividing to form dense groups. Leaves densely rosulate, erect or spreading, dull grey-green to glaucous green, sometimes with reddish tinge, obscurely lineate, usually without spots, sometimes with few small confluent, H-shaped, scattered spots, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 30-60 cm long, 6-15 cm wide at base; margin cartilaginous, narrow, greyish, with small, deltoid, pale to brownish teeth, 1-3 mm long, 5-10 mm apart; exudate clear pale yellow. Inflorescence 0.5-1.5 m high, erect or oblique, 6- to 12-branched, lower branches rebranching. Racemes broadly cylindrical, slightly acuminate, occasionally sub-capitate, 5-15 cm long, rather lax. Floral bracts 3-6 mm long, 1.5-4.0 mm wide. Pedicels up to 20-25 mm long, spreading. Flowers: perianth pale brick-red or bright coral-pink, sometimes orange to yellow, paler at mouth, 35-40 mm long, 7-9 mm across ovary, narrowed above ovary, widening towards mouth, cylindrical-trigonous, decurved; outer segments free for ± 8 mm; stamens exserted 1-2 mm; style exserted to 2 mm.

Flowering time.

April-August.

Habitat.

Usually on bare rock on granite domes, at foot of granite whalebacks and outcrops or in shallow soil pockets and shady wooded slopes. Frost-sensitive.

Diagnostic characters.

Aloe chabaudii var. chabaudii can be distinguished from other virtually acaulescent, non-maculate aloes in KwaZulu-Natal ( Aristaloe aristata , Aloe gerstneri , Aloe pratensis , Aloe reitzii var. vernalis , Aloe suprafoliata and Aloe vanbalenii ) by its suckering habit that results in the establishment of dense groups of rosettes. It is further characterised by its erect to spreading, greyish-green to glaucous green leaves (30-60 × 6-15 cm) with rather small closely-spaced marginal teeth. The inflorescence is erect to oblique, up to 1.5 m high and 6- to 12-branched with the lower branches spreading and rebranching. Floral bracts are short (3-6 mm) and pedicels oblique to almost horizontal (up to 25 mm). Flowers are mostly reddish, 35-40 mm long and narrowed above the ovary.

Conservation status.

Least Concern ( Raimondo et al. 2009).

Distribution.

Centre of distribution in Zimbabwe, extending north to Zambia and Malawi and south-western Tanzania, west into eastern Botswana, the Caprivi Strip of north-eastern Namibia, east to Mozambique and south to the Limpopo, Mpumalanga and northern KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa, as well as Eswatini (Fig. 10 View Figure 10 ).

Notes.

One other variety is recognised in A. chabaudii , namely A. chabaudii var. mlanjeana Christian that is confined to the Mulanje Massif and hills in the Thyolo and Mulanje District, Malawi.

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Asparagales

Family

Asphodelaceae

Genus

Aloe