Aloe khamiesensis

Aloe khamiesensis is a single-stemmed or two-branched succulent leaf tree of up to 3 m in height (SA Tree List No.29.3). Dead leaves tend to persist below the live leaf rosette; only the lowest stem part sheds them. Some say that the bare bottom stem parts are caused by animals rubbing the dead leaves off, suggesting that they would persist to ground level where no interference had taken place. (The phenomenon of dead plant parts persisting on the live plant is known as marcescence.)

The leaves and flowers of A. khamiesensis are about identical to those of A. microstigma that grows solitary and short-stemmed (rarely reaching 50 cm) and A. framesii that forms clumps of up to 20 ground-level rosettes with horizontal, inconspicuous stems. 

A. khamiesensis is endemic to the Northern Cape, found in Namaqualand between Steinkopf and Nieuwoudtville and near Calvinia. The photo was taken in the Goegap Nature Reserve.

The habitat is mostly mountainous, dry and hot, rocky outcrops in succulent Karoo at elevations between 500 m and 1400 m. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Frandsen, 2017; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).