Aloe africana fruit

Aloe africana fruit capsules are markedly grooved, longitudinally between and upon their three segments. The fleshy fruits are roughly cylindrical and shiny. The initial green colour is replaced by pale brown and other shades, succeeding each other en route to ripeness.

By the time they open to release the small seeds, the capsules are dry. At present, it is the remaining perianth detritus that still dries there, as well as the small bracts upon the peduncle of the raceme.

The bracts are triangular, whitish and papery, one below each fruit, as well as some sterile ones lower down on the bare stem below the flowers. These bracts appeared when the inflorescence developed, long before the first open flower (Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist).