aloe palmiformis: an endemic krantz aloe from angola
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Aloe palmiformis: an endemic krantz aloe from AngolaAuthor(s): Gideon F. Smith and Estrela FigueiredoSource: Cactus and Succulent Journal, 83(1):22-27. 2011.Published By: Cactus and Succulent Society of AmericaDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2985/0007-9367-83.1.22URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2985/0007-9367-83.1.22
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Aloe palmiformisan endemic krantz aloe from Angola
GIDEON F. SMITH* & ESTRELA FIGUEIREDO*
The road from Lubango (for-merly known as Sá da Ban-deira) to Tundavala in south-ern Angola (Figure 1) is not always easy to negotiate. It is a winding dirt track up a mountainside that rapidly
rises for over 400 m (about 1311 ft) from 1830 m (about 6000 ft) above sea level (asl) in the city to 2260 m (about 7400 ft) asl at the top. Recently, the road surface has been trampled to a superfine, powdery dust by large road-building machinery as efforts are underway to improve the accessi-bility of the plateau. Our visit took place in the
Figure 1. Map of the area around Lubango in southern Angola.
*H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium, Department of Plant Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002 South Africa /
Centre for Functional Ecology, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade de Coimbra, 3001-455 Coimbra, Portugal.
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Figure 2. The vistas from Tundavala towards Bibala are truly awe inspiring. Photograph: Gideon F Smith.
Figure 3. A clump of Aloe palmiformis, at Tundavala, near Lubango, in Angola, with Estrela Figueiredo sitting next to it. Photograph taken on 7 August 2010 by Gideon F Smith.
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first week of August 2010—during the dry win-ter season therefore—and the chalky surface was treacherous; in the wet summer months it must be considerably worse, like driving on soap suds. It is no surprise therefore that probably well over 50% of the vehicles on the roads in and around Lubango have 4 × 4 capabilities and are well-suited for off-road driving. But the trip up to Tundavala is worthwhile in all respects: the views from the top are spectacular and it is easy to understand why local visitors and tourists would want to get there (Figure 2). It is also a place that rather per-versely thrills visitors because of the abounding gory legends that it was a place of execution (by throwing people over the edge), a practice that is said to have taken place up to recent days.
Twenty-eight species of Aloe are known from Angola (Figueiredo & Smith 2008, 2009; Klopper et al. 2009, 2010), several of which occur in the south of the country. Apart from Aloe mendesii, the well-known cliff-dweller from southern Angola (Smith & Figueiredo 2011), Aloe palmiformis also
grows in that region of this biologically rich coun-try. Both these species are restricted to Angola. Where it occurs at Tundavala, Aloe palmiformis is easy to reach as it grows among large boulders next to the road (Figure 3). Plants grow along the top of the plateau, among white and brown, lichen-covered boulders where their purple win-ter leaf coloration contrasts sharply with the sur-roundings (Figure 4). Here the plants resemble specimens of the form of the variable Aloe arbo-rescens where they grow in Mpumalanga in South Africa near God’s Window on the eastern side of the subcontinent. The uninitiated could indeed easily mistake Aloe palmiformis for young plants of Aloe arborescens, especially if the species is not in flower. As is the case with many species of Aloe, the leaves of seedlings of Aloe palmiformis are spotted, sometimes copiously so, while those of mature specimens lose this character (Figure 5).
The type specimen of the name Aloe palmifor-mis was collected by Friedrich Martin Joseph Wel-witsch (25 February 1806–20 October 1872) (Fig-ure 6) in Morro de Lopolo, southeast of Lubango,
Figure 4. In the dry winter season the leaves of Aloe palmiformis turn uniformly purplish—almost the same colour as the marginal leaf thorns. The leaves of mature specimens do not carry any spots. Photograph: Gideon F Smith.
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in April 1860 when plants were in flower. This specimen, which is kept at the Herbarium of the Natural History Museum (BM) in London, car-ries the following notes in the hand of Welwitsch,
“...one of the most lovely species which, when not yet in bloom, resembles a pretty little palm, for the leaves are compressed at the points of the stalks, at first descending, then raised upwards and, close to the apex again semi-spiral-like rolled back (downwards)....” To some, but not all, observers, this brief description is very apt and sums up the allure of this species, which, with a bit of imagina-tion, indeed resembles a small palm tree (Figure 7). Reynolds (1960: 19), the well-known student of Aloe, did not agree; he commented that “Wel-witch originally stated that this species resembled a “pretty little palm”—hence the name, but I could see no resemblance.”!
Welwitsch was born in Austria, but accepted employment in Portugal in 1839. Fourteen years later the
Portuguese government sent him to Angola to collect plants and animals for scientific study. He returned to Lisbon, Portugal, in 1863 after having spent eight years collecting biological material in
Figure 5. The leaves of young plants of Aloe palmiformis are usually copiously spotted. Photograph: Gideon F Smith.
Friedrich Welwitsch (25 February 1806–20 October 1872). Reproduced with the kind permission of the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
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lEft Figure 7. Mature specimens of Aloe palmiformis indeed resemble small palm trees, as Friedrich Welwitsch, who collected the type specimen, remarked on one of the herbarium sheets he prepared. Reynolds disagreed! Photograph: Gideon F Smith.
aBovE Hearty purslane and garlic soup is best served with some bread placed in the bowl. Photograph: Gideon F Smith.
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Angola. During this time he amassed over 10,000 botanical specimens that cover 5000 species, of which a remarkable 1000 were new to science (Albuquerque et al. 2009)!
In several populations of certain Aloe species, some variation in inflorescence development, and therefore flowering time, seems to be the norm, Aloe afri-cana and Aloe arborescens being good
examples. Therefore, arriving in the natural hab-itat of a species during, or close to, its flowering season almost invariably ensures that a good crop of images of it in flower can be secured. But not quite so with Aloe palmiformis, as we missed the main flowering season by what would appear to have been not more than a month or so. Sadly, not a single plant was still in flower at that time—not even one late bloomer was noticed—and all the specimens were in fruit. But Angola is a bit off the beaten track and not a place that can be that easily visited. So these images of the species in fruit and seed will have to suffice for the moment.
Literature references and further reading
ALBUQUERQUE, S, BRUMMITT, RK & FIGUEIREDO, E 2009. Typification of names based on the Angolan collections of Friedrich Welwitsch. Taxon 58: 641–646.
FIGUEIREDO, E & SMITH, GF 2008. Plants of Angola / Plantas de Angola. Strelitzia 22. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria.
FIGUEIREDO, E & SMITH, GF 2009. The succulent flora of Angola. Haseltonia 15: 69–78.
KLOPPER, RR, MATOS, S, FIGUEIREDO, E & SMITH, GF 2009. Aloe in Angola (Aspho-delaceae: Alooideae). Bothalia 39: 19–35.
KLOPPER, RR, MATOS, S, FIGUEIREDO, E & SMITH, GF 2010. A preliminary checklist for the aloes of Angola. In: X van der Burgt, J van der Maesen & J-M Onana (eds), Systematics
and conservation of African plants. Proceedings of the XVIIIth triannual Congress of the AETFAT, Yaoundé, Cameroon. Pp. 37–41. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
REYNOLDS, GW 1960. Hunting aloes in Angola. African Wild Life 14: 13–25.
REYNOLDS, GW 1966. Aloes of tropical Afri-ca and Madagascar. The trustees, the aloes book fund. Mbabane.
SMITH, GF & FIGUEIREDO, E 2011. Provenance of the material on which the name Aloe mendesii Reynolds (Asphodelaceae), a cliff-dwelling species from Angola and Namibia, is based. Bradleya 29.
lEft Figure 7. Mature specimens of Aloe palmiformis indeed resemble small palm trees, as Friedrich Welwitsch, who collected the type specimen, remarked on one of the herbarium sheets he prepared. Reynolds disagreed! Photograph: Gideon F Smith.
The many ‘A’s of AloeBy Deborah wisniewska-jones
Avail and attune yourselves to Aloes appeal! Their awe-
some attraction can awaken an alluring, appetizing and
addictive association.
Atomize aloe sap to alleviate aggravating abrasions,
avoiding awful agony.
Astonishingly august in appearance, almost all aloes are
Amicable, a few are armed and awkward; all are ap-
proachable.
Although agitating to authenticate, keeping attuned to all
their amazing attributes, an ‘aloe atlas’ is arguably the
astute approach on absolute authority.
Assembling an ample array of aloes will aspirate amusing
audible awe’s from an audience in an auditorium. Attract-
ing attention, approval, appreciation, and applause for an
auspicious assemblage of ‘astrological’ aloes.
Aloes are available all over.
My apologies for going asunder into the alluring abyss of
aloes.