Aloe brevifolia

Aloe brevifolia is one of the dwarf aloes, commonly known in Afrikaans as duine-aalwyn (dune aloe). It bears large, branching clusters of compact leaf rosettes. A rosette spreads to 8 cm, those of var. depressa to 30 cm. In flower the plant reaches heights around 40 cm to 50 cm. The clump that develops from basal offshoots forms a shallow, spreading dome as in picture. 

The leaves are short, broad and thick, triangular in shape with the tips curving in gradually. Leaf colour is grey-green to blue-green, sometimes with a pinkish tinge. The surfaces are smooth, apart from the whitish marginal teeth and off-centre keel prickles towards the leaf tips. The inner surface of the leaf is slightly concave, the outer one convex. The leaf sap is clear.

One or two single, slightly cone-shaped racemes are produced per rosette, loosely flowered and up to 60 cm long. The buds are initially covered by fleshy bracts. The bracts continue on the stalk below the flowers to near the base. The outer segments are free, nearly to the base. Perianth colour is mainly bright red or orange, sometimes yellow. Flowering happens from mid-spring to early summer.

The species distribution is restricted in the Western Cape to a southerly coastal area around Caledon to Bredasdorp and Swellendam. 

The habitat is renosterveld in clay soils, often in shale or on stony slopes. Most rain is received in winter, the summers hot. The species is deemed endangered in habitat early in the twenty first century, due to habitat loss or degradation from agricultural activities (Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).