Aloe metallica
| Aloe metallica | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aloe metallica | ||||||||||||
| Engl. & Gilg |
Aloe metallica is a species of the genus Aloes in the subfamily of the Affodilla family (Asphodeloideae). The specific epithet metallica comes from Latin , means 'metallic' and refers to the metallic sheen of the leaves.
description
Vegetative characteristics
Aloe metallica grows individually and without a stem or with a short stem. The approximately 15 lanceolate, narrowed leaves form a dense rosette . The bluish gray, metallic shimmering leaf blade is 25 to 40 centimeters long and 7 to 9 centimeters wide. The piercing, reddish-brown teeth on the slightly reddish-brown, horny leaf margin are 2 to 3 millimeters long and 10 to 20 millimeters apart.
Inflorescences and flowers
The inflorescence is simple or slightly branched and reaches a length of up to 120 centimeters. The rather dense, cylindrically pointed grapes are up to 35 centimeters long and 6 centimeters wide. The lanceolate-pointed, white bracts have a length of 18 to 20 millimeters and are 8 millimeters wide. In the bud stage they are arranged in a brick shape. The reddish pink flowers are on 8 millimeter long peduncles . They are 32 millimeters long and rounded at their base. At the level of the ovary , the flowers are 7 millimeters in diameter. Above that, they are slightly widened towards the mouth. Your outer tepals are not fused together over a length of 13 millimeters. The stamens and the stylus barely protrude from the flower.
Systematics and distribution
Aloe metallica is common in Angola near the Cuchi River in the municipality of Cuchi on sandstone cliffs at altitudes of 1,300 to 1,430 meters.
The first description by Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler and Ernest Friedrich Gilg was published in 1903.
proof
literature
- Susan Carter , John J. Lavranos , Leonard E. Newton , Colin C. Walker : Aloes. The definitive guide . Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2011, ISBN 978-1-84246-439-7 , pp. 261 .
- Leonard Eric Newton: Aloe metallica . In: Urs Eggli (Hrsg.): Succulent lexicon. Monocotyledons . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3662-7 , pp. 159 .