Plate 178.
Reading edition
ALOE RUPESTRIS. Namaqualand. Liliaceae. Tribe Aloineae. Aloe, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 776.
Aloe rupestris, Baker in Flora Capensis, vol. vi. p. 326.
This remarkable Aloe belongs to the same section of the genus as A. ferox, which we figured on Plate 169, but differs in having leaves which are not prickly on the under surface. It is only found, so far as we know, in Namaqualand, where it grows on rocky ground, and was first distributed by MacOwan. The locality from which the original specimens came was between Port Nolloth and Spektakel. The plant grows to a height of 10 to 12 feet, and produces a large terminal panicle of racemes which overtops the leaves. The young flowers are greenish-yellow in colour, but become red when adult. This difference in colour between the young and adult flowers is not an uncommon character in the genus, and we have noted it before in A. Wickensii (Plate 41).
The plant from which our plate was prepared was presented by Dr. R. Marloth, and flowered at the Division of Botany, Pretoria, in September 1924.
Description:—Stem almost 2 m. high, thick. Leaves in a rosette at the apex of the stem, up to 60 cm. long, 5 cm. broad near the base, lanceolate-ovate, acuminate, not prickly on either side, with small deltoid marginal teeth. Inflorescence much-branched; racemes dense, 15 to 20 cm. long. Bracts small. Pedicels short. Perianth over 2 cm. long; segments divided almost to the base, oblong, with a distinct green keel. Stamens and style much exserted.
Plate 178.—Fig. 1, plant, much reduced; Fig. 2, median longitudinal section of flower; Fig. 3, flowers in various stages of development; Fig. 4, stamen; Fig. 5, apex of style.
F.P.S.A., 1925.
