Aloe mitriformis now called A. perfoliata

Aloe mitriformis, commonly known as the mitre aloe, is one of the creeping, sprawling or trailing aloes. It has been sunken into A. perfoliata. This one photo is retained under the old name as the form does not quite resemble much of what is seen of A. perfoliata.

The plant branches repeatedly and sustains leaves only towards the ends of branches. These leaf rosettes are too large and heavy for the thin branches to support in an erect position, leaving the stems procumbent. 

The leaves are short, broad, blue-green and smooth. Leaf colour varies according to the plant’s position in sun or shade as well as the watering it receives. The teeth on the edges are characteristically variable in colour, as can be seen in picture. The specific name, mitriformis, is derived from the Latin word mitra meaning a head covering, particularly the mitre worn by a bishop and the Latin suffix -formis meaning shaped like, referring the mitre or bishop’s headgear.

The inflorescence is usually a panicle consisting of up to five branches. The racemes are short and vary from flat-topped or rounded to conical. Flowers are slender, densely clustered and bright red to pinkish red. They appear throughout summer. 

The distribution is in the west of the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula to the Bokkeveld Mountains and to the far southwest of the Northern Cape.

The habitat is vertical fynbos and renosterveld cliff faces and crevices in rock sheets. In nature the plant receives its rain in winter. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

The species is similar to A. comptonii and A. distans (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).