Aloiampelos decumbens

Aloe decumbens, commonly called the Langeberg rambling aloe, is a sprawling leaf succulent becoming about 1 m wide. One doesn’t find the name in plant books older than the recent editions. This plant was previously known as A. gracilis var. decumbens and is well described under that name, but now goes by a yet newer name, viz. Aloiampelos decumbens. A. gracilis had only the one noted variety, but no longer. The two species differ in A. decumbens being less robust, more sprawling as the decumbens specific name indicates, and in their geographic distribution. Only the leafy ends of the A. decumbens stems are upturned.

The shrub branches, forming irregularly shaped bushes of many thin branches. The branches reach lengths of about 75 cm and a diameter of 1 cm. Similarly spaced internodes of about 1 cm are without teeth on the leaf sheaths that encircle the stem. This differs from A. ciliaris on which the sheath margins are toothed. Faint signs of vertical green striations may be visible on the internodes of the stem in the photo. 

The alternate leaves grow stalkless from the stem, sheathing it. The leaves are thickly succulent and dark green, their surfaces smooth and spineless. The leaf shape is lanceolate to triangular, long and narrow, tapering to acute tips with concave or flat upper surfaces. The leaves would all be isosceles triangles if it weren’t for the occasional, lateral leaf curvature. The whitish, marginal leaf teeth are cartilaginous and pliant, only about 0,5 mm long and 1 mm apart.

The species distribution is a narrow, east-west, mountainous strip in the Langeberg Mountains, from Heidelberg to Cloete's Pass near Herbertsdale. A. gracilis grows in the Eastern Cape from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) to Kariega (Uitenhage).

The habitat is fynbos on exposed slopes of sandstone and quartzite rock sheets. The habitat population is deemed vulnerable early in the twenty first century, due to pine plantations, and invasive exotic vegetation (Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Reynolds, 1974; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; https://redlist.sanbi.org).