Aloiampelos gracilis

Aloiampelos gracilis, commonly known as the scrambling aloe and in Afrikaans the rankaalwyn (scrambling aloe), is a scrambling, shrubby plant bearing succulent leaves and growing to heights around 2 m. Branching much from the base, the thin, bamboo-like stems are erect or spreading. Stem internodes becoming up to 15 mm long lower down from the tip. They are faintly green striated. Lower stem parts become leafless.

The leaves are narrowly lanceolate spreading and curving up, the tips acutely pointed, the base amplexicaul, i.e. clasping the stem. The margins are slightly cartilaginous, armed with small, firm whitish teeth of about 1 mm long. The blades are smooth, the upper surface about flat low down, slightly channelled higher up, the lower surface is convex. Leaf colour is dull to bright or dark green.

The species distribution is limited in the southwest of the Eastern, Cape from the Kouga and Baviaanskloof Mountains to near Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth).

The habitat is rocky slopes and flats in thicket, forest and fynbos. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).