Aloe nicholsii Gideon F.sm. & N.R.Crouch

Species

Angiosperms > Asparagales > Asphodelaceae > Aloe

Characteristics

Small to medium-sized, herbaceous, slow-growing, succulent, perennial, grass aloe, total height excluding inflorescence ± 300-360 mm, usually clumped, up to 40 heads, sometimes solitary, a single head at mid-rosette up to 160 mm in diameter. Roots cylindrical when young, becoming fusiform with age, central portion 8(-10) mm in diameter. Stems short, stout, ± 60(-140) mm long, 20-45 mm in diameter. Leaves few, distichous becoming semi-rosulate, 9-15, not persistent when dry, narrowly linear-attenuate, tapering to apex, 200-460 mm long, 20-53 mm broad at base, basally sheathing, flaccidly spreading; upper surface distinctly and consistently concave, canaliculate, mid-green to light yellowish green, occasionally with few scattered white spots towards base, smooth; lower surface convex, mid-green to light yellowish green, scattered white spots common towards base; margins with a coarse, faintly ivory-coloured edge, marginal teeth more or less absent, if present, tiny, widely spaced, harmless, triangular; ivory-coloured to greenish white, < 0.5 mm long towards base of leaf, becoming increasingly smaller towards tip of leaf, 5-10 mm distant, ± unevenly and widely spaced; dry leaf sap translucent. Inflorescence an unbranched raceme, 300-460 mm tall, as tall as or exceeding the height of rosette; each rosette producing up to 3 racemes, peduncle sparsely sterile bracteate, denser towards apical part of inflorescence, bracts varying from thickened, somewhat fleshy, light yellowish green with very broad, white margins to light salmon-brown, papery, central part same colour as peduncle when succulent, many-nerved, 18-170 mm long, 10 mm broad at base, tapering to a sharp, harmless tip. Peduncle basally plano-convex, cylindrical above, 260-360 mm long, 6-8 mm broad at base, light yellowish green, dusty bloom lacking. Racemes densely capitate, the flowering portion 30-35 mm long, 50-60 mm in diameter; buds erect to suberect, congested at apex, lowest open flowers suberect to horizontal. Floral bracts amplexicaul around pedicel, large, light yellowish green, somewhat fleshy, to salmon-brown, papery, with 4-7 prominent mid-green or light brown nerves, 10-26 mm long. Pedicels 25-30 mm long. Flowers zygomorphic, unscented, small, 13-16 mm long, slightly stipitate at base, tubular-cymbiform, lightly pruinose, tricoloured, salmon-pink above, greenish below, tip extremity purplish-brown, enlarging towards throat and forming a very slightly open, distinctly upturned mouth; buds similar to open flowers, 5 mm in diameter in middle; buds and flowers not trigonously or cylindrically indented above ovary; outer segments larger than inner segments, lorate to long-triangular, free for most of their length, basally fused for ± 0.5-1.0 mm, free portion with a prominent central nerve, borders the same colour as tepal blade, acute, segment margins folded lengthwise, apex slightly incurved; inner segments narrower than outer, with yellowish white border and more obtusely spreading apex, free for most of their length. Stamens 6, hypogynous; filaments cylindrically thread-like to very slightly flattened, light yellow, 11-13 mm long, all 6 of ± equal length, not exserted; anthers small, 1.0 mm long, bright orange, versatile, included or only very slightly exserted. Ovary 3-5 mm long, 2 mm in diameter, light green; style short, 8 mm long, minutely capitate; stigma small, becoming exserted during female phase of flower. Fruit an erect, bright green, trilocular capsule, cylindrical, 17-19(-22) mm long, 9-10 mm in diameter, apically truncate, dry remains of tepals persisting around fruit for a long time, dehiscing loculicidally, chartaceous to woody when dry. Seeds, dark greyish brown, angled, laterally compressed, with off-white wing stretching around periphery of seed, 2.5-3.0 mm long. Flowering time January to March, peaking in February. Chromosome number unknown.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention -
Sexuality -
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.3 - 0.46
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture 1-8
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) -

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 30 - 180
Germination temperacture (C°) 21
Germination luminosity light
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Aloe nicholsii world distribution map, present in South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77106245-1
WFO ID wfo-0000916909
COL ID C3VY
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Aloe nicholsii