Aloiampelos ciliaris

Aloiampelos ciliaris, sometimes called the climbing aloe and previously Aloe ciliaris, is a much-branched shrub, a climbing plant with slender, semi-woody or bamboo-like, bare stems. Numerous stems arise from the underground rootstock.

The leaves are concentrated in dense rosettes at the tips of the branches and spaced, stem-clasping lower down. Every leaf base ends in a sheath that envelops the stem with a series of small white teeth on the upper edge of the sheath.

All three varieties of the species are distributed coastally in the Eastern Cape. They are var. ciliaris, var. redacta and var. tidmarshii, quite similar plants with different chromosome numbers.   

The habitat is Albany thicket, coastal dune forest and savanna. Two of the varieties have habitat populations deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century. Only var. redacta is very range restricted and considered vulnerable due to forestry activities (Smith, et al, 2017; iNaturalist; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).