Aloiampelos decumbens

One doesn’t find the name Aloe decumbens in plant books older than the very latest editions. This plant was previously known as A. gracilis var. decumbens and is well described under that name, but now goes by yet a 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, only the leafy ends of the stems being upturned.

In nature A. decumbens is only found on southern sandstone and quartzite slopes of the Langeberg in the Riversdale area and westwards to around Swellendam, at elevations of about 500 m. (A. gracilis grows in the Eastern Province around Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage.)

A. decumbens grows among the fynbos on exposed rock sheets and margins of woody patches, an unlikely habitat for aloes, let alone the newer, smaller genus of rambling aloes called Aloiampelos. The species is considered vulnerable in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The shrub branches, forming irregularly shaped bushes with thin branches pointing in all directions. The branches reach lengths of about 75 cm and a diameter of 1 cm. 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; would all be simple isosceles triangles if it weren’t for the occasional, lateral leaf curvature.

The alternate leaves grow around the stem, sheathing it. Similarly spaced internodes of about 1 cm are without teeth on the leaf sheaths that encircle the stem; different to A. ciliaris on which the sheath margins are toothed.

Faint signs of vertical green striations may be discerned on the internodes of the stem in the photo. The whitish, marginal leaf teeth are cartilaginous and pliant, only about 0,5 mm long and 1 mm apart (Reynolds, 1974; Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; www.redlist.sanbi.org).