Aloiampelos ciliaris (Haw.) Klopper & Gideon F.Sm. in Grace et al. (2013: 10) var. ciliaris

Smith, Gideon F., Figueiredo, Estrela, Verloove, Filip, Klopper, Ronell R. & Silva, Vasco, 2023, An annotated catalogue of Aloe and Aloiampelos (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae) naturalised and escaped in continental Portugal, Phytotaxa 629 (1), pp. 35-52 : 45

5. Aloiampelos ciliaris (Haw.) Klopper & Gideon F.Sm. in Grace et al. (2013: 10) var. ciliaris ( Fig. 6 ).

Locally used synonyms:— Aloe ciliaris Haworth (1825: 281) .

Common name(s):— Portuguese: None recorded. English: climbing aloe, rambling aloe, scrambling aloe.

Description:—Much-branched, tangled shrub. Stems long and slender, up to 5–6 m long, 1.0– 1.5 cm diam., repeatedly branched, scandent, only terminal 0.3–0.6 m with leaves. Leaves cauline-dispersed, spreading to recurved, green, without spots, rather thin, linear-lanceolate, long acuminate, 10–15 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm wide; sheath distinctly auriculate with ciliate margin, cilia 2–4 mm long, obscurely green-lineate, 5–15 mm long; margin with firm, white, cartilaginous teeth, ± 1 mm long, ± 3 mm distant. Inflorescence 0.2–0.3 m long, ascending, arising laterally below apical leaves, usually simple, sometimes with short branch. Peduncle 0.12–0.15 m long, biconvex at base, with few scattered, deltoid-subulate sterile bracts, ± 5 mm long. Racemes broadly cylindric, 8–15 cm long, 4–5 cm wide, erect, sparse to subdense to dense; buds spreading, flowers nodding to pendulous when open. Floral bracts ovate-acuminate, 4–5 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, white, thin, scarious, 3-nerved. Pedicels 5–8 mm long. Flowers: perianth orange to orange-red to scarlet red with yellowish green tips, 28–35 mm long, ± 5 mm across ovary, enlarging slightly to ± 7 mm towards mouth, slightly clavate or cylindric; outer segments free for 6 mm, tips straight or slightly incurved; stamens with filiform-flattened filaments, exserted 2–4 mm; ovary 4 mm long, 2 mm diam., pale green; style exserted 3–4 mm. Fruit capsule oblong, ± 18 × 9 mm. Chromosome number: 2 n = 42 (hexaploid).

Flowering time:—(November–)December–January(–February), i.e., generally during mid- to late-winter, but can sporadically flower during any month of the year.

Habitat:—Vicinity of gardens where it is cultivated, for example through surplus material being irresponsibly discarded.

First mention of the species as naturalised in Portugal:—Not previously recorded as naturalised. It is here recorded as casual and escaped.

Localities recorded:—E (Malveira da Serra, Cascais and Ulgueira, Sintra).

Country / region of origin:— Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Secondary distribution range:— Aloiampelos ciliaris is very sparingly naturalised, especially in areas with a Mediterranean climate. In Mediterranean Europe its local naturalisation has been reported from Spain ( Aymerich & Sáez 2019). Elsewhere in the Mediterranean area and on the Atlantic Islands, it is considered to be an ephemeral escape (see for example Galasso et al. 2018 and Dobignard & Chatelain 2010). It is also naturalised in, among other places, Australia ( Randall 2007) and New Zealand ( Schönberger et al. 2021). In some areas of its secondary range, A. ciliaris is considered to be an invasive species.

Status in Portugal:—Casual and escaped. Previously recorded as “Cultivated” ( Silva et al. 2015: 75).

References for the area:— Liberato & Caixinhas (2006: 8), Sirovs (2014).

Notes:—The alooids, in particular the genus Aloiampelos Klopper & Gideon F.Sm. in Grace et al. (2013: 10), have long horticultural and research histories in Portugal, especially through cytogenetics and taxonomic work conducted by Flávio Resende (1907–1967) on this predominantly southern African group ( Figueiredo et al. 2019, Smith & Figueiredo 2019: 36, Smith & Silva 2019, Smith et al. 2020). While working on the cytogenetics of a range of alooids at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, Resende described several new taxa at the rank of forma in species of rambling aloe, a group that, at the time, was interpreted as Aloe ser. Macrifoliae Haworth (1825: 280) , later as A. sect. Macrifoliae (Haw.) Glen & Hardy (2000: 92), now as the genus Aloiampelos . One of the formae described by Resende, Aloe ciliaris f. gigas Resende (1943: 101) , is a hybrid between the hexaploid Aloiampelos ciliaris var. ciliaris and the tetraploid A. ciliaris var. redacta (S.Carter in Brandham & Carter 1990: 643) Klopper & Gideon F.Sm. in Grace et al. (2013: 10) and was recently raised to the rank of nothovariety, as A. ciliaris nothovar. gigas ( Resende 1943: 101) Smith & Figueiredo (2019: 38).

Aloiampelos ciliaris is widely known as a rambling or scrambling aloe and is generally characterised by its creeping, shrubby, or climbing habit ( Fig. 6A–B ). The rather narrow, thin leaves are spirally arranged along thin, slender stems and are separated by prominent internodes, so placing the distinctly ciliate-fringed sheathing bases on display ( Fig. 6C ). The almost invariably unbranched inflorescences (but see Fig. 6D ) can be either sparse-flowered or subdense and cylindrical, or near-capitate and dense-flowered, and predominantly in winter carry rather large, cylindrical flowers that range from orange to orange-red to scarlet red with yellowish green tips ( Smith et al. 2021) ( Fig. 6A–B, D ).

The species is very commonly grown along the Mediterranean coast of Europe where it will develop into large, dense stands of heavily tangled stems.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Aloiampelos ciliaris in Portugal. A. A dense planting in the Botanical Garden of the University of Lisbon (see Smith & Figueiredo 2016). Photograph taken on 2 January 2013. B. Grown in a garden at Casa Mata, Malveira Serra, near Lisbon. Photograph taken on 29 April 2017. C. Close-up of the distinctly ciliate leaf bases. D. Inflorescences are usually unbranched, but could rarely be oncebranched. All photographs by Gideon F. Smith, except B, which was taken by Vasco Silva.