''Aloiampelos tenuior'', formerly ''Aloe tenuior'', the fence aloe, is a bushy, multi-branched

succulent plant In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

from the grasslands and thickets of the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

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 locat ...

and

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

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 ...

. Its preferred habitat is sandy soils in open country, unlike many of its relatives that favour thicket vegetation. It is one of the most profusely

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 ...

ing of all aloes and their relatives.

Description

Locally, this plant is known as ''iKhalene'' in

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

, ''inTelezi'' in

Fengu The ''amaMfengu'' (in the Xhosa language ''Mfengu'', plural ''amafengu'') was a reference of Xhosa clans whose ancestors were refugees that fled from the Mfecane in the early 19th century to seek land and protection from the Xhosa and have sinc ...

, and simply the fence aloe in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''tenuior'' means "very slender", and refers to the plant's stems. A medium-sized, bushy plant that forms clumps up to 3 m tall, with leaves tufted at the ends of branches. The leaves have a distinctive greyish-green colour and the leaf margins have tiny white teeth. These leaves are a traditional remedy for

tapeworm Eucestoda, commonly referred to as tapeworms, is the larger of the two subclasses of flatworms in the class Cestoda (the other subclass is Cestodaria). Larvae have six posterior hooks on the scolex (head), in contrast to the ten-hooked Cestodar ...

. An unusually large, woody rootstock usually forms on the ground at the base of the plant. Like all species in the genus, flowers are borne on slender racemes and are usually bright yellow (although there are red-flowered forms, sometimes called var. ''rubriflora''). ''Aloiampelos tenuior'' flowers throughout the year, but especially in winter, and the small flowers appear on thin, un-branched

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 ...

Varieties

''Aloiampelos tenuior'' is an extremely variable species. The

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected plan ...

(WCSP) does not recognize any varieties, treating them all as synonyms of the species. Varieties recognized by some sources include: * ''A. tenuior'' var. ''tenuior'' * ''A. tenuior'' var. ''viridifolia'' (the Green-leaf Fence Aloe) restricted to the Suurberg Shale Fynbos, near Addo Elephant Park, north of Port Elizabeth. The smallest variety, with smooth, green leaves. * ''A. tenuior'' var. ''glaucescens'' (the blue fence aloe), type: Kei River, Eastern Cape. * ''A. tenuior'' var. ''densiflora'' (the dense-flowered fence aloe), type: Breakfast Vlei, Eastern Cape * ''A. tenuior'' var. ''rubriflora'' (the red-flowered fence aloe) of Pondoland, type: Mlengana, Eastern Cape. The largest variety. * ''A. tenuior'' var. ''decidua'' (the deciduous fence aloe), type:

Alice, Eastern Cape Alice is a small town in Eastern Cape, South Africa that is named after Princess Alice, the daughter of the British Queen Victoria. It was settled in 1824 by British colonists it's adjacent to the Tyhume River. It has rail and road connection ...

. A small, erect, deciduous variety. File:Aloe tenuior.JPG, The most common colour form File:Aloe tenuior - rare var densiflora - South Africa.jpg, The rare "dense-flowered" form (sometimes called var. ''densiflora'') File:Aloe tenuior var rubriflora - Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens.JPG, The rare "red-flowered" form (sometimes called var. ''rubriflora'') File:Aloe tenuior - rare var viridiflora - Suurberg Shale Fynbos 1.jpg, The rare "green-leafed" variety (var. ''viridifolia'')

Relatives

''Aloiampelos tenuior'' is part of a genus including '' Aloiampelos ciliaris'' (which occurs in the dry thicket from Ciskei to Baviaanskloof), ''

Aloiampelos gracilis ''Aloiampelos gracilis'', formerly ''Aloe gracilis'', the rocket aloe, is a succulent plant, endemic to dry thicket vegetation around the city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Its natural range lies just to the west of the related '' Aloiampelo ...

'' (which occurs to the west in dry thicket from

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

through the Baviaanskloof), ''

Aloiampelos striatula ''Aloiampelos striatula'', formerly ''Aloe striatula'', the hardy aloe or striped-stemmed aloe, is a sturdy succulent plant that naturally occurs on the summits of mountains along the south of the Karoo region of South Africa. Tough and hardy, wi ...

'' (found to the north on higher, rocky mountain tops), and '' Aloiampelos decumbens'', '' Aloiampelos juddii'' and ''

Aloiampelos commixta ''Aloiampelos commixta'' is a flowering plant in the Asphodelaceae family. It is commonly called Table Mountain aloe, and is a rare succulent plant that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. It naturally occurs only on the Table Moun ...

'' which occur only in isolated pockets in the coarse sandstone sands of

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

Fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

. However, ''Aloiampelos tenuior'' can be distinguished from its relatives by its thin, greyish, non-recurved leaves.Reynolds, G.W. 1950. ''The Aloes of Southern Africa''. Balkema, Cape Town.

References

PlantZAfrica: ''Aloe tenuior''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q143229, from2=Q42729491 Asphodeloideae Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Flora of the Northern Provinces Medicinal plants of Africa