Aloiampelos ciliaris leaf bases

The thin Aloiampelos ciliaris stems have been likened to bamboo shoots. They become 1 cm to 1,5 cm in diameter. The leaves, still succulent as Aloiampelos (and Aloe) leaves are, have quite thin blades as seen here.

The leaf base clasps the stem. Tiny leaf margin teeth, whitish and soft, continue at the leaf base around the edge of the sheathing or clasp of the stem. In picture they even become more pronounced, longer and closer together than the marginal ones.

This feature is a species identifier for A. ciliaris. It also serves in the species name, ciliaris (more or less) meaning fringed with fine hairs, as cilia means eyelashes, from cilium, an eyelid in Latin and later also an eyelash.

The leaves spiral around the stems with long, pale internodes spacing them, from 0,5 cm to 1,5 cm long. Faint longitudinal lines occur on the nearly flat to shallowly channelled upper surfaces of the dull green leaves in view, even on the pale green stem-tip ones and the greenish cream stem in view (Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; Wiktionary).