Aloe davyana Schönland (1905: 288) var. magdae Gideon F.Sm., 2022

Smith, Gideon F., 2022, Aloe davyana var. magdae (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a distinctive new variety from central-northeastern South Africa, Phytotaxa 536 (3), pp. 261-269 : 266-268

Aloe davyana Schönland (1905: 288) var. magdae Gideon F.Sm. , var. nov.

Type: — SOUTH AFRICA. Free State province.—2627 (Potchefstroom): near the Vaal River Barrage, close to the R59 road, about 20 km west-northwest of Sasolburg , open, rocky grassland, (–DC), 28 August 2021, G.F. Smith 1160 (PRU, holotype) .

Diagnosis:— Aloe davyana var. magdae differs from A. davyana var. davyana and A. davyana var. subolifera by generally developing larger rosettes consisting of about twice as many leaves, and by having flowers that are bright orange-red to bright red, not pale flesh pink to brick red, as in A. davyana var. davyana , or nearly white as in A. davyana var. subolifera . The inflorescences of A. davyana var. magdae are more cylindrical than those of A. davyana var. davyana and A. davyana var. subolifera that both have more broadly conical inflorescences. Geographically A. davyana var. magdae occurs to the south of the distribution range of the autonymic variety. Aloe davyana var. magdae differs from the northerly, nearly white-flowered A. davyana var. subolifera by not forming large, multi-rosette clumps.

Description:—Plants small, low-growing, solitary or suckering to form groups of 2–4, rosettes often turned sideways, up to 160(–180) mm tall. Stem ± absent to very short, thickened lower down if present, clothed in persistent, twisted, dried leaves. Leaves very densely rosulate, at first erect, then horizontally spreading, 50–150 mm long, 50–70 mm wide at base, mid-green, usually purplish-infused, smooth textured, deltoid-lanceolate, adaxially white-spotted, white spots ± oblong to H-shaped, sometimes arranged in interrupted, wavy transverse bands; abaxially pale milky green, green-dotted, longitudinally darker green-lined, lines narrow, not confluent, exudate clear, drying purplish; margins shiny-orange-brown to shiny-dark brown or shiny-concolorous, armed with prominent, short, very pungent, deltoid, shiny-brown, yellowish-tipped teeth, ± 4–6 mm long, 4–5(–8) mm apart, straight variously or more rarely curved towards leaf base. Inflorescence 1 to 3 per rosette, simultaneous or consecutively, some often destroyed by frost, 0.7–1.0 m tall, erect, 3- to 7-branched from below middle, branches ascending at narrow angle from peduncle; peduncle rather stout, lacking sterile bracts below racemes, panicle branches subtended by prominent fertile bracts of ± 30–50 mm long, drying rapidly, dull light brown to creamy white, irregularly deltoid to lanceolate-triangular, indistinctly longitudinally dark brown lined. Racemes ± cylindrical, erect, somewhat tapering upwards, equally densely flowered above and below, (90–) 150–200 mm long, 70–80 mm wide where flowers are at anthesis, usually rather densely flowered; buds erect to erectly spreading, flowers nodding or pendulous at anthesis. Floral bracts ± 15–25 mm long, conspicuous, ± as long as pedicels, drying rapidly, light brown to creamy white, narrowly lanceolate, variously twisted, much narrower than fertile bracts. Pedicels 20–25 mm long, orange to reddish orange when young, remaining so with age. Flowers: perianth: buds bright orange-red to bright red, dark-tipped; open flowers bright orange-red to bright red, alternately whitish and darker striped in apical ½, 32–35 mm long, 5 mm across ovary, narrowed above ovary to yield small subglobose bulbous base, distinctly enlarged towards mouth, apical half ventricose below, tips of segments very slightly flared, outer segments free for ½ of their length; tips slightly spreading; stamens with filiformflattened filaments, uniformly light yellowish white, exserted for up to 2–4(–6) mm; ovary 7–8 mm long, 2–3 mm in diam., light green; style well-exserted, uniformly light yellow; stigma tiny, very slightly capitate, yellowish. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, 25–30 × 12–15 mm, dull mid-green to purplish green, dry remains of perigone soon shed. Seed not seen. Chromosome number: unknown.

Distribution:— Aloe davyana var. magdae has a more southerly distribution range than A. davyana var. davyana . It occurs from south of Johannesburg in the vicinity of Ennerdale, Walkerville, Sebokeng, and Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng, and southward to Parys and Heilbron in the Free State, on both sides of the north-south running N1 highway. Reynolds (1950: 235) was aware of A. davyana var. magdae and referred to it as: “Forms near Parys and towards Heilbron (southern limit [of A. davyana ])”.

Habitat:— Aloe davyana var. magdae occurs in scattered colonies in grassveld dotted with clumps of shrubs and trees.

Eponymy:— Aloe davyana var. magdae is named for Magda Nel (born Makopane [Potgietersrus], Limpopo province, South Africa, 5 November 1957 –) ( Fig. 7 ). Magda holds a National Diploma for Research Technicians: Agriculture and Botany, which she was awarded in 1979 by the Tshwane University of Technology [at the time the Technikon Pretoria]. Since 1991 she is employed as herbarium assistant in the H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria , South Africa. Her responsibilities include maintenance of the nearly 130,000 preserved plant specimens, capturing data from specimen labels, assisting mainstream plant science students, and handling many plant identification requests from students and the public. Magda previously held appointments at the Roodeplaat Research Station, Pretoria (1980), at the Citrus & Subtropical Fruit Research Station (now under the Agricultural Research Council) (1981–1987), and, through the then Transvaal Museum, at the Desert Ecological Research Unit at Gobabeb on the edge of the Namib Desert in Namibia (1987–1990). She is also an accomplished graphic and digital artist. Magda has a longstanding interest in aloes after she was exposed to growing these plants at a young age by her father and her uncle, Oom At Koeleman (see Smith 1996 and Smith & Figueiredo 2015: v [page unnumbered], 17).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Magda Nel (5 November 1957–) after whom Aloe davyana var. magdae is named.