Aloe transvaalensis Kuntze

Smith, Gideon F., Figueiredo, Estrela, Klopper, Ronell R. & Crouch, Neil R., 2012, Summer-flowering species of maculate Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae) in the Aloe zebrina-complex from South Africa: reinstatement of four names, and description of A. braamvanwykii Gideon F. Sm. & Figueiredo, Bradleya 30, pp. 155-166 : 161

Aloe transvaalensis Kuntze in Revisio Generum Plantarum 3(2): 314 (1898).

Type: South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 17 February 1894, Kuntze s.n. ( NY, holo.; K, iso.!)

A. laxissima Reynolds in J. S. Afr. Bot. 2: 28 (1936).

Type: South Africa, Limpopo Province, near Nebo , March 1935, G.W. Reynolds 767 ( PRE, holo.!)

Diagnostic characters: This aloe occurs as solitary plants or in small groups, only occasionally in large groups. Leaves are usually a dull milky green, with the lower surface paler green and more obscurely spotted in less defined bands than the upper surface, to unspotted. Inflorescences are ± 1 m high and compactly branched from above the middle ( Figure 5 ). Flowers are ± 36 mm long and flesh-pink with a 1 mm wide white border on the outer perianth segments.

Distribution: It is centred in central South Africa, especially in the Gauteng province around Pretoria and Johannesburg, also southeast towards Heidelberg and to Standerton in Mpumalanga, and westwards to Rustenburg and Zeerust in the northern parts of the North-West province. It is also reported from near Serowe and Mabela-e-Pudi in Botswana (see for example Hargreaves, 1990), but the identity of material from these localities requires confirmation.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, often at the foot of koppies, frequently between shrubs and bushes.

Figures

Figure 5. A. transUaalensis has dull milky green leaves with obscurely spotted lower surfaces and fleshpink flowers. Photo: Ronell R. Klopper. Figure 6. A. braamUanaeykii in habitat near Wolmaransstad, North-West Province, South Africa. Photo: Gideon F. Smith.