Aloe

Plantings of Aloe vera, photographed by Wouter Hagens.

Belongs within: Alooideae.

Aloe is a genus of more or less succulent, spiny-leaved plants native to sub-Saharan Africa and Arabia.

Characters (from Healy & Edgar 1980): Acaulescent or caulescent, more or less succulent perennials, with or without offsets, stems if present simple or branched. Leaves usually sharp-pointed, margins sinuate-dentate, in rosettes. Racemes terminal or lateral, capitate to long-cylindrical, or inflorescence corymbose. Flowers showy, yellowish or reddish, more or less zygomorphic, pedicellate, bracts scarious; segments free or connate below into curved or straight tube, lobes spreading. Stamens 6, hypogynous, included or exserted. Ovary many-seeded. Capsule oblong to sub-globose. Seeds many, often winged.

Aloe Linnaeus 1753 [=Aloe sect. Grandiflorae Haworth 1804] TS03
    |--+--A. glauca TS03
    |  `--A. lineata TS03
    `--+--+--Chortolirion angolense TS03
       |  `--+--A. boylei TS03
       |     `--A. verecunda TS03
       `--+--+--A. striata TS03
          |  |    |--A. s. ssp. striata TS03
          |  |    `--A. s. ssp. karasbergensis TS03
          |  `--+--+--A. sinkatana TS03
          |     |  `--A. vera TS03
          |     |       |--A. v. var. vera K10
          |     |       `--A. v. var. officinalis K10
          |     `--+--A. forbesii TS03
          |        `--+--A. inermis TS03
          |           `--A. scobinifolia TS03
          `--+--Lomatophyllum TS03
             |    |--L. macrum TS03
             |    `--L. occidentale TS03
             `--+--A. conifera TS03
                `--+--A. bulbillifera TS03
                   `--+--A. deltoideodonta TS03
                      `--A. viguieri TS03

Aloe incertae sedis:
  A. africana TS03
  A. arborescens TS03
  A. argenticauda CV06
  A. asperifolia CV06
  A. corallina CV06
  A. dewinteri CV06
  A. dinteri CV06
  A. erinacea CV06
  A. ferox TS03
  A. greenii SC06
  A. hereroensis CV06
  A. littoralis B14
  A. merlotii TS03
  A. namibensis CV06
  A. omavandae CV06
  A. pachygaster CV06
  A. saponaria (Aiton) Haworth 1804 [incl. A. latifolia] HE80
  A. sladeniana CV06
  A. vanrooyenii SC06
  A. variegata TS03
  A. viridiflora CV06

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B14] Bouchard, P. (ed.) 2014. The Book of Beetles: A lifesize guide to six hundred of nature's gems. Ivy Press: Lewes (United Kingdom).

[CV06] Craven, P., & P. Vorster. 2006. Patterns of plant diversity and endemism in Namibia. Bothalia 36 (2): 175–189.

[HE80] Healy, A. J., & E. Edgar. 1980. Flora of New Zealand vol. 3. Adventive cyperaceous, petalous and spathaceous monocotyledons. P. D. Hasselberg, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[K10] Keighery, G. 2010. The naturalised vascular plants of the Pilbara region, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 78 (1): 299–311.

[SC06] Smith, G. F., & N. R. Crouch. 2006. Asphodelaceae. Corrections to the eponymy and geographical distribution of Aloe vanrooyenii. Bothalia 36 (2): 174.

[TS03] Treutlein, J., G. F. Smith, B.-E. van Wyk & M. Wink. 2003. Phylogenetic relationships in Asphodelaceae (subfamily Aloooideae) inferred from chloroplast DNA sequences (rbcL, matK) and from genomic fingerprinting (ISSR). Taxon 52: 193–207.