Operation Wildflower
  • Home
  • Albums
  • Links
    • Botanical Gardens
    • OWF Sites
    • Public Parks, Gardens and Reserves
    • Reference Sites
    • Private Parks, Gardens and Reserves
  • Information
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Articles
    • Plant Records
      • Aloes
      • Bulbs
      • Climbers
      • Cycads
      • Euphorbias
      • Ferns
      • Grasses
      • Herbs
      • Orchids
      • Parasites
      • Shrubs
      • Succulents
      • Trees
    • Sources of Information
    • Disclaimer
    • Subject Index
Home Home » GENERA A » Aloe » Aloe longistyla
Back to Category Overview
Total images in all categories: 11,538
Total number of hits on all images: 6,618,407

Aloe longistyla

Aloe longistyla
Start View full size
[Please activate JavaScript in order to see the slideshow]
Previous Previous
Image 125 of 216  
Next Next
Image 127 of 216  
  • Aloe lineata var. muirii centre of a rosette
  • Aloe lineata var. muirii differences in resilience
  • Aloe lineata var. muirii early inflorescence, bracts only
  • Aloe lineata var. muirii inflorescence
  • Aloe lineata var. muirii last flowers
  • Aloe lineata var. muirii leaf rosette
  • Aloe lineata var. muirii, the streepaalwyn
  • Aloe littoralis by a Himba hut
  • Aloe longistyla
  • Aloe longistyla cohesive community
  • Aloe longistyla fruit capsule husks
  • Aloe longistyla leaf spines
  • Aloe longistyla leaves
  • Aloe maculata
  • Aloe maculata rosette
  • Aloe maculata X striata hybrid
  • Aloe maculata X striata hybrid

Image information

Description

Aloe longistyla, commonly called ramenas or Karoo aloe, is a stemless, short-lived leaf succulent, in flower reaching heights around 20 cm.

The inflorescence is an unbranched, compact, cone-shaped raceme, sometimes occurring in pairs per rosette, simultaneously or successively. From 40 to 50 flowers are borne per raceme.

The tips of the congested buds are hooked upwards, the perianths curving up in their upper third. The orange-red or salmon-pink flowers ascend, their stamens well exserted.

The specific name, longistyla, refers to the long, conspicuously exserted style. This style becomes up to 7,5 cm long, the longest among South African aloes.

The species is distributed in the Great Karoo and the Little Karoo in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape from Calitzdorp where the photo was taken to Laingsburg, Middelburg, Cradock and inland from Grahamstown.

The habitat is Nama Karoo and succulent Karoo where the plants grow scattered in arid, karoid scrubland. They take to loam or sandy soils on stony flats and gentle slopes under bigger plants, typically Karoo bushes. The plants cope with wide temperature variations and low (mainly summer) rainfall.

It is unclear how this Aloe is faring in nature early in the twenty first century, due to data deficiency concerning the extent of livestock grazing (in some places overgrazing) in its habitat and plant numbers involved in collections.

Although people too often remove these aloes from their habitat, the plants do not perform well in cultivation, causing unnecessary plant deaths (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; http://redlist.sanbi.org).

Hits
258
Photographer
Thabo Maphisa
Author
Ivan Latti
 
Back to Category Overview
Powered by JoomGallery