Aloe micracantha Haw.

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

Aloe micracantha Haw.

Common names.

Wateraalwyn (Afrikaans).

Description.

Grass aloe, 0.35-0.50 m high; rosettes usually solitary. Acaulescent plants or stem very short, simple, sometimes 1- or 2-branched, erect. Leaves multifarious, sub-distichous in young plants, erect, rigid, deep green to yellowish-green, with copious white, subtuberculate and subspinulescent spots especially on lower surface towards base, deeply channelled on upper surface, narrowly deltoid to linear, acuminate, 30-50 cm long, 2-4 cm wide at base; margin with firm, white teeth, up to 2 mm long, 1-3 mm apart; exudate clear. Inflorescence 0.45-0.50 m high, erect, simple. Raceme capitate, somewhat corymbose, ± 8 cm long, dense. Floral bracts ± 35 mm long, 5-7 mm wide. Pedicels 20-35 mm long. Flowers: perianth salmon-pink to reddish-orange, 25-40 mm long, slightly constricted above ovary, slightly widening towards wide open mouth, basally stipitate, straight, cylindrical-trigonous; outer segments free to base; stamens exserted 0-1 mm; style exserted 1-2 mm.

Flowering time.

January-March.

Habitat.

Well-drained, dry, open sandy or stony places in coastal grassland, often wedged between rocks.

Diagnostic characters.

Aloe micracantha can be distinguished from other grass aloes in KwaZulu-Natal with unkeeled leaves that are usually narrower than 3.5 cm and that lack a bulb-like underground swelling ( Aloe dominella , Aloe linearifolia , Aloe minima , Aloe nicholsii , Aloe parviflora and Aloe saundersiae ), by the multifarious to sub-distichous, erect and rigid, deep yellowish-green, smoothly channelled (not sharply keeled) leaves (30-50 × 2-4 cm), with copious white spots on both surfaces. It is also characterised by the unbranched inflorescences (0.45-0.50 m high) with dense, capitate racemes, where the pedicels (20-35 mm long), perianth (25-40 mm long) and ovary are all salmon-pink. Rosettes are usually solitary.

Conservation status.

Near-threatened. Threats include agricultural practices, urban expansion and the encroachment of alien invasives ( Raimondo et al. 2009).

Distribution.

Occurs in a fairly narrow coastal to near-coastal strip from the Uniondale area in the Western Cape to Bathurst in the Eastern Cape, with outlier collections from Mt Ayliff in the north-eastern Eastern Cape and Karkloof in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (Fig. 23 ). It is the grass aloe with the most westerly distribution in southern Africa and the only grass aloe to occur in Fynbos vegetation.

Figures

Figure 23. Aloe micracantha. Photo: G. F. Smith.