Aloe sharoniae N.R.Crouch & Gideon F.Sm.

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

NE Aloe sharoniae N.R.Crouch & Gideon F.Sm.

Syn.

Aloe cooperi subsp. pulchra Glen & D.S.Hardy.

Common names.

Sharon’s grass aloe (English); sharonse-grasaalwyn (Afrikaans)

Description.

Grass aloe, 0.30-0.65 m high. Acaulescent plants or stem up to 0.15 m, erect, usually solitary, rarely with offshoots at ground level to form small groups, dried leaves not persistent. Leaves distichous, semi-erect to decurved, deciduous, green, usually without spots on upper surface, with copious white tubercles each bearing a hair-like process at base on lower surface, obscurely lineate, narrowly attenuate, 30-44(-82) cm long, 1.6-2.6(-3.9) cm wide at base, distinctly keeled, strongly V-shaped in cross section; margin narrow, white, cartilaginous, with rubbery, hair-like, ivory to greenish-white teeth in basal quarter to third only, 3-5 mm long, 1-2 mm apart at mid-leaf; exudate clear, drying clear. Inflorescences 0.33-0.59 m high, erect, simple. Raceme capitate to slightly elongate, 3.0-9.5 cm long, 7.5-9.5 cm wide, dense. Floral bracts 23-30 mm long, 6-8 mm wide, clasping the pedicel. Pedicels 33-43 mm long. Flowers: perianth bright orange-red, yellowish-brown to purplish-brown tipped, 25-35 mm long, 6-8 mm across ovary, narrowing towards mouth, roundly trigonous, basally stipitate and narrowing into pedicel; outer segments free almost to base; stamens not or very slightly exserted; style only slightly exserted.

Flowering time.

February-March.

Habitat.

Open grassland on all slope aspects.

Diagnostic characters.

Aloe sharoniae is distinguished from other grass aloes in KwaZulu-Natal with strongly keeled leaves ( Aloe cooperi and Aloe myriacantha ) by the distichous leaves (30-44 cm long) that have no marginal teeth in the upper ⅔ and that are basally covered with white tuberculate maculations on the lower surface. It is further characterised by the floral bracts that clasp the pedicels (not flat as in Aloe cooperi ). The inflorescence (0.33-0.59 m) is longer than the leaves. Flowers are bright orange-red, yellowish-brown to purplish-brown tipped and 25-35 mm long, with the mouth not bilabiate or upturned.

Conservation status.

Least Concern ( Von Staden 2014b).

Distribution.

Sparse. Limited to KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and Eswatini, although this species may also occur in southern Mozambique (Fig. 39 ).

Figures

Figure 39. Aloe sharoniae. Photo: N. R. Crouch.