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aloe

Habit Plants succulent, shrubby or arborescent, scapose.
Stems

erect, clambering or ascending, branched or not.

Leaves

succulent, crowded, often rosulate or distichous;

blade margins spiny-toothed or entire.

Inflorescences

axillary or terminal, paniculate to more often racemose, dense, bracteate.

Flowers

usually nodding;

perianth red to yellow;

tepals connate basally to almost entirely into tube;

stamens 3 or 6;

style slender;

pedicel not articulate.

Capsules

papery to woody.

x

= 7.

Aloe

Distribution
from USDA
primarily s and tropical Africa; also Madagascar; Arabian peninsula; and Atlantic islands (Madeira, Canary, and Cape Verde); naturalized in the Mediterranean region; India; and China [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 300 or more (2 in the flora).

Aloe saponaria (Aiton) Haworth, distinguished by its yellow sap and glaucous red flowers with yellow throats, is cultivated in the southwestern United States and has been observed to escape. Apparently it persists only when supplementary water is available.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Perianth yellow; inflorescences unbranched or rarely branched; leaf blade margins green.
A. vera
1. Perianth red; inflorescences divided distally into 5–10 arching branches; leaf blade margins narrowly whitish.
A. ×schonlandii
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 410.
Parent taxa Aloaceae
Subordinate taxa
A. vera, A. ×schonlandii
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 319. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 150. (1754)
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