K. A. Lansdell del.
Plate 55.
ALOE striata.
Cape Province.
Liliaceae. Tribe Aloineae.
Aloe, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 776.
Aloe striata, Haw. in Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. vii. p. 18; Syn. p. 81; Fl. Cap. vol. vi. p. 311.
This is the well-known “Coral Aloe” of South Africa. It is typical of both the Upper and Lower Karroo regions and also of the Namaqualand region. The species is generally found on dry rocky slopes, and the plants assume a subdecumbent position, very rarely growing erect. It is the only South African species of Aloe which bears leaves without prickly teeth. In the dry summer season the leaves lose their bluish-grey colour and become a copper-red, which gives the plants a very characteristic appearance in the veld. A large number of hybrids have been raised by crossing this species with others belonging to the Saponaria group, and a hybrid, described as Aloe Lynchii, was obtained between this and Gasteria verrucosa.