Overview
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Endangered |
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Description
Family Aloaceae
Trees
, shrubs
, and succulents, perennial
, simple
to sparsely branched, rhizomatous
, some tuberous-thickened. Leaves simple, alternate, usually crowded at bases
of stems or ends of branches, sessile; blade
fleshy
, margins
often prickly, venation
parallel. Inflorescences terminal
, axillary
, or lateral
, spicate
, racemose, or paniculate
. Flowers 3-merous, short- to long-pedicellate, rarely sessile; perianth red, brown, yellow, orange, or whitish; tepals petaloid
, connivent or connate
basally to almost entirely into tube
, sometimes fleshy; stamens sometimes 3, usually 6, exserted or included
; anthers
dorsifixed
, dehiscence antrorse
; pollen grains
monosulcate; ovary 3-carpellate, placentation axile
, usually with septal nectaries; style terminal; stigmas punctate
, discoid
, or 3-lobed. Fruits capsular
, rarely baccate
, dehiscence loculicidal, apical. Seeds usually winged
or flattened.
Genera 5, species ca.
700 (1 genus, 2 species in the flora
) : all introduced
; Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, and Atlantic islands.
Aloaceae are closely related to and included by some authors
in Liliaceae.
The juice of some Aloe species is used to make a purgative
called bitter
aloe; active
ingredients include aloin and other anthraquinones
. Additionally, the thick, mucilaginous
gel
of some species is widely used to treat minor thermal burns
, itching, and sunburn.[1]
Genus Aloe
Plants
succulent, shrubby or arborescent
, scapose
. Stems erect
, clambering
or ascending
, branched or not. Leaves succulent, crowded, often rosulate or distichous; blade
margins
spiny-toothed or entire. Inflorescences axillary
or terminal
, paniculate
to more often racemose, dense, bracteate
. Flowers usually nodding
; perianth red to yellow; tepals connate
basally to almost entirely into tube
; stamens 3 or 6; style slender; pedicel not articulate
. Capsules papery
to woody. x
= 7.
Species 300 or more: introduced
; primarily s and tropical
Africa; also Madagascar, Arabian peninsula, and Atlantic islands (Madeira
, Canary, and Cape
Verde) ; naturalized
in the Mediterranean region, India, and China.[2]
Physical Description
Flowers: Bloom Period: July, August. • Flower Color: orange
Size/Age/Growth
Size: under 6" tall.
Habitat
Ecology: Cliffs .[3]
Biology
Growth
Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Light Shade.
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Liliopsida
()
- Scopoli, 1760
- Subclass:
Liliidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Lilianae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Asparagales
()
- Bromhead, 1838
- Suborder:
Asphodelineae
()
- Suborder:
Asphodelineae
(
- Order:
Asparagales
(
- Superorder:
Lilianae
(
- Subclass:
Liliidae
(
- Class:
Liliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Notes
Publishing author : Reynolds Publication : J. S. African Bot. xxx. 123 (1964).
Similar Species
Members of the genus Aloe
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1188 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:
A. aageodonta · A. abhaica · A. abyssicola · A. abyssinica · A. acinacifolia · A. aculeata (Red Hot Poker Aloe) · A. acuminata · A. acutissima (Aloe) · A. acutissima var. antanimorensis (Aloe) · A. adigratana · A. aethiopica · A. affinis (Aloe) · A. africana (Uitenhage Aloe) · A. africana f. variegata · A. agavefolia · A. agrophila · A. ahmarensis · A. albicans · A. albida · A. albida × haworthioides · A. albida x saundersii · A. albiflora (White-Flowered Aloe) · A. albiflora x littoralis · A. albispina · A. albocincta · A. albopicta · A. albovestita · A. aldabrense · A. aldabrensis · A. alexandrei · A. alfredii · A. alooides (Aloe) · A. altilinea · A. altimatsiatrae · A. amanensis · A. ambigens · A. ambrensis · A. americana · A. amicorum · A. ammophila · A. amoena · A. amudatensis (Aloe) · A. andohahelensis · A. andongensis (Aloe) · A. andongensis var. repens · A. andringitrensis (Aloe) · A. angelica (Aloe) · A. angiensis · A. angolensis · A. angulata · A. angusta · A. angustifolia · A. anivoranoensis · A. ankaranensis · A. ankoberensis · A. antandroi · A. antandroy · A. antonii · A. antoninii · A. antsingyensis · A. arabica · A. arachnoidea · A. arachnoides · A. arborea · A. arborescens (Candelabra Plant) · A. arborescens blue-leaved · A. arborescens 'Compton' · A. arborescens early-flowering · A. arborescens 'Eloff' · A. arborescens 'Frutescens' · A. arborescens 'Gold Rush' · A. arborescens 'Huntley' · A. arborescens 'Jack Marais' · A. arborescens 'John Winter' · A. arborescens late-flowering · A. arborescens 'Mathews' · A. arborescens Mill. var. frutescens (Salm-Dyck) Link · A. arborescens Mill. var. milleri A.Berger · A. arborescens 'Pearson' · A. arborescens 'Philip le Roux' · A. arborescens 'Rycroft' · A. arborescens 'Variegata' · A. arborescens × ferox · A. arborescens yellow-flowered · A. archeri · A. arenicola (Aloe) · A. argenticauda · A. argyrostachys · A. aristata (Guinea Fowl Aloe) · A. aristata 'Cathedral Peak' · A. aristata x gasteria · A. armatissima · A. aspera · A. asperifolia (Aloe) · A. asperiuscula · A. asperula · A. atherstonei · A. atrovirens · A. attenuata · aloe attenuata x shawii 'Blue Glow'
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Timberlake, J. 1996. Notes on possible globally threatened tree species occurring in Africa that have been recorded from Zimbabwe.
- Moran, R. 1992. Aloe wild in California. Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 64: 55-56.
- Reynolds, G. W. 1982. The Aloes of South Africa, ed. 4. Rotterdam.
Notes
Contributors
- Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed December 31, 2007. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 4 providers.
- World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 5789935
- Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Kew-297103
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:529237-1
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 529237-1
- IUCN ID: 35861
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1023441
Footnotes
- Walter C. Holmes & Heather L. White "Aloaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 12, 15, 18, 20, 410. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- "Aloe". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 410. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008. [back]
