Aloe brevifolia flourishing in Australia

    Aloe brevifolia flourishing in Australia
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Ivan Lätti

    These bright green mounds of multiple leaf rosettes in the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne belong to a variety, maybe a cultivar of Aloe brevifolia.

    The leaf-shape and growth habit are similar to the well-known Western Cape plants, the leaf colouring unusual. The cone-shape of the inflorescence is as expected, although the branching into a two-raceme panicle deviates from the norm. The pale bracts continuing down on the stalks below the flowers are again typical of A. brevifolia.

    Perianth colour and shape are about right. The typical perianth shape is cylindrical-triangular, only slightly curved and narrowed above the ovary while widening near the mouth. Slight green colour is visible on the segment veins near their tips. The anthers are exserted, not quite as far as the stigma (Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist; iSpot)

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