Aloe gariepensis lording it over an empty empire

Aloe gariepensis does grow in the Richtersveld, often on steep, rocky slopes where the shallow, sandy soils on granite, sandstone or shale give the plant a hot and dry microhabitat to contend with. Stone of this land presents interesting sightings like red granites, flaky black shales and quartzite ribs. Long after sunset the aftermath of summer heat, temperatures exceeding 50°C on the bare stone-strewn earth, lingers around and in the plants that know about furnace-dwelling or nearly that. The neighbourhood is mostly rugged, succulent shrubland, dominated by aridity.

The neighbours are often from succulent families like Euphorbiaceae and Apocynaceae, as well as other succulent genera like Crassula and Conophytum. Plant adaptations to xeric stress are portrayed in the aloe’s upright rosette dealing with heat avoidance. Glaucous bloom on the thick skin leaf surfaces reduces the relentless UV load. Flowering is quick, often coinciding with brief intervals of (often slightly) higher moisture. These events may occur in the almost never seen thunder storm, some river fog from the Gariep, or occasionally a sea-borne mist from the west.

The plant’s population in these parts is thought to have declined sharply in recent drought years. Too many growth seasons that never came thinned the stands of even the succulent species, the representatives standing up to be counted mostly hardy, scattered veterans. Those that hiked here long ago with camera and notebook grieve about what has already happened to the plants, and what is still likely to come in a warming world (Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; iNaturalist; https://www.gbif.org; https://powo.science.kew.org).