Aloe kedongensis

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Aloe kedongensis
Aloe Kedongensis Alicante.jpg
Aloe Kedongensis habit, "Castell de la Santa Bàrbara", Alicante, Spain
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asphodelaceae
Subfamily: Asphodeloideae
Genus: Aloe
Species:
A. kedongensis
Binomial name
Aloe kedongensis
Christian & I.Verd.

Aloe kedongensis (the "Kenyan Aloe") is a species of aloe which occurs in Kenya and northern Tanzania.

Contents

Along with Aloe dawei and Aloe rivae , it is very commonly used for hedges in East Africa.

Description

Aloe kedongensis stems (foreground) Aloe kedongensis (7812348902).jpg
Aloe kedongensis stems (foreground)
Orange-red flowers of Aloe kedongensis, showing their flared-out lobe-tips Aloekedongensis.jpg
Orange-red flowers of Aloe kedongensis, showing their flared-out lobe-tips

Aloe kedongensis branches from the base to form thick clumps of stems, each up to 4 meters long, and either erect or sprawling on the ground. The slender leaves (60 cm long, 3.5 cm wide) are recurved and without any markings (though the leaves of very young plants often have occasional white blotches on them).

The 50 cm tall inflorescence sometimes has a branch or two, with cylindrical racemes. The tubular flowers are red, 3–4 cm long, and born on 2–3 cm pedicels. The tips of the flower lobes curve outwards.

Genetics and relatives

Aloe kedongensis is a tetraploid, with four sets of chromosomes. It is part of a unique group of closely related tetraploid aloes in East Africa, which all share a recent common ancestor, and occur near to each other in a variety of habitats within the region. The other five species of this group are: [1]

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References

  1. Reynolds, T. Aloes: The genus Aloe. CRC Press, 2004.