Cape Province, Swaziland, Transvaal.
Liliaceae. Tribe Aloineae.
Aloe, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 776.
Aloe microcantha, Haw. Suppl. 105; Fl. Cap. vol. vi. p. 306; Sims in
Bot. Mag. t. 2272.
Aloe microcantha, which forms the subject of the accompanying plate, occurs frequently in the open grass veld along the eastern mountain range from Grahamstown northwards as far as the valley of the Limpopo. In Swaziland and the eastern Transvaal it is usually found along the edges of streams and in marshy places. In localities of high rainfall, such as Haenertsberg on the Drakensbergen in the Transvaal, this plant is often a conspicuous and beautiful object on the grassy slopes facing east. It flowers during January and February. As soon as the seed has set, a few months later, the leaves wither almost completely to their bases, leaving a short stem surrounded by a few dried leaves to weather the winter drought.
We are indebted to Mr. Chas. Maggs of Pretoria for the specimen figured in our illustration. It was collected by Mr. Maggs on his Waterval Estate, near Sabie, on the Drakensberg, in January 1921, and forwarded to the Division of Botany, where it flowered in January the following year.
Aloe microcantha was first collected by Bowie and introduced into cultivation in 1819. It was figured in Curtis’ Botanical Magazine in 1821 as a plant of great rarity from the Cape of Good Hope.
Description:—An acaulescent plant. Leaves up to 33 cm. long, 4·5 cm. broad at the base, lanceolate, acuminate, acute, concave, sparsely covered with greenish-white spots near the base and with rigidly ciliated margins. Inflorescence about 50 cm. long, terete, glabrous, bearing a few distant membranous ovate acuminate acute bracts. Inflorescence congested, corymbose. Bracts 1·5 cm. long, ovate, acuminate, acute. Pedicels 3 cm. long, terete, glabrous. Perianth 2·8 to 3·2 cm. long; lobes 2·7 cm. long, 6 mm. broad, linear, obtuse. Filaments 2 cm. long, filiform; anthers linear. Ovary 1 cm. long, cylindric; style 2·7 cm. long, filiform; stigma simple. (National Herb. Pretoria, No. 2645.)
[Plate 111.]—Fig. 1, plant much reduced; 2, median longitudinal section of flower; 3, perianth segments; 4, anther; 5, style; 6, cross-section of leaf about the middle.
F.P.S.A., 1923.