''Aloe rupestris'' (known as the Bottlebrush Aloe) is an

arborescent A rhizome is a concept in post-structuralism describing a nonlinear network that "connects any point to any other point". It appears in the work of French theorists Deleuze and Guattari, who used the term in their book ''A Thousand Plateaus'' to ...

aloe ''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Accessed on: 06 Nov 2022 The most wid ...

indigenous to summer-rainfall areas of

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

Description

Aloe rupestris, goue bloeiwyse, Pretoria

The Bottlebrush Aloe gets its common name from its distinctive and showy

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s. The large candelabra

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s grow tall above the rosette. The numerous

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s on each inflorescence are straight, upright and cylindrical. The individual flowers begin as tight yellow buds that are packed densely on the racemes. When they open, bright reddish stamens extend far out, and give each raceme a fluffy "bottlebrush" look. It is a very fast-growing aloe, which is usually single-stemmed in nature - though clumping, off-setting varieties seem to occur in cultivation. It grows extremely tall and its trunk is relatively thin, compared to other

aloes. Therefore, especially tall plants sometimes fall over when they do not have support (in their natural habitat, they tend to grow among rocks and thickets, which provide support). The thin, partially recurved, spreading leaves form a dense rosette at the growth head of adult plants. They are smooth, dull green, deeply grooved (U shaped in cross-section) and have reddish-brown margins and slightly hooked teeth. This species is frequently confused with the related ''

Aloe thraskii ''Aloe thraskii'', the dune aloe, is a South African plant in the genus ''Aloe''. Description The dune aloe is a tall, fast-growing, un-branched aloe, which develops a very large rosette. The long, pale, grey-green leaves are deeply grooved o ...

'', ''

Aloe marlothii ''Aloe marlothii'' (also known as the mountain aloe or the flat-flowered aloe) is a large, single-stemmed Southern African aloe of rocky places and open flat country, occasionally growing up to 6 m tall. Description Named after Rudolf Marloth ...

'', ''

Aloe ferox ''Aloe ferox'', commonly known as bitter aloe, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae. This woody aloe is indigenous to southern Africa. It is one of several ''Aloe'' species used to make bitter aloes, a purgative medicatio ...

'', ''

Aloe speciosa ''Aloe speciosa'' is a species of flowering plant in the Asphodelaceae family. It is commonly called tilt-head aloe and is an arborescent aloe indigenous to the thicket vegetation of the southern Cape Provinces of South Africa. Description The ...

'', ''

Aloe pluridens ''Aloe pluridens'' (also known as the French Aloe) is an arborescent aloe indigenous to southern Africa. Description This species can occasionally grow up to 6 meters in height. It is usually single-stemmed (however in cultivation conditions ...

'' and ''

Aloe excelsa ''Aloe excelsa'' (also known as the Zimbabwe Aloe) is an arborescent aloe indigenous to southern Africa. Description The Zimbabwe Aloe is a tall aloe, sometimes reaching tree dimensions of 5–6 metres, although 3 metres is a more common heig ...

'' species (among others) which have similar growth forms. However the inflorescence of the "Bottlebrush aloe" is distinctive, and its growth form is nonetheless recognisable. The flowers of ''

'' have sloping or curved

s, while ''

'' has leaves that are more robust and strongly recurved.

Distribution and habitat

''Aloe rupestris'' occurs naturally across the south-eastern summer-rainfall areas of

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

Province,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, as well as

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

(Swaziland) and southern

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. Within this range, it favours rocky areas in bushveld, sandy coastal forest, and hilly areas where it occurs on rocky ridges and slopes (the species name ''"rupestris"'' means ''"of rocky places"'' in Latin).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aloe rupestris rupestris Flora of Mozambique Flora of Swaziland Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Taxa named by John Gilbert Baker