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The genus Aloe is widely used for medicinal purposes throughout its predominantly African distribution, but detailed knowledge of the contemporary value of aloes is patchy. The main aim of this study was to determine the value of Aloe in the Highlands of Ethiopia, a region of rich Aloe diversity, by documenting local uses and perceptions of the sustainability of the species used. Amhara and Tigray community members participated in semi-structured interviews from 110 respondents aged 24-72. Eleven species of Aloe were recorded for medicine, social and environmental uses, animal food, and as bee plants managed for honey production. Of these, the majority of use records were for human medicine to treat malaria and wounds. We found no evidence of non-sustainable harvesting for medicine, but extensive habitat loss and interest in the commercial uses of Aloe present acute threats and indicate the vulnerability of Aloe species in the central and northern Highlands of Ethiopia.

The aim of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) is to end hunger, improve food security and nutrition and promote sustainable crop production by 2050. However, climate change, increasing soil salinization and the inadequate availability of fresh water have negatively affected crop production around the world including South Africa, making it difficult to meet the required target. This necessitates the use of wild edible plants that are adapted to adverse conditions such as drought and salinity in order to mitigate this problem. The genus Trachyandra (Asphodelaceae) consist of three edible species (T. ciliata, T. divaricata and T. falcata) which are native to the dry saline environments of the western Cape coastal sand dunes. The genus is less studied with no record of cultivated species, although the existing literature states that T. ciliata, (wild cabbage) was originally used as a food source by the indigenous Khoi-san people who lived on the South African Cape coast. Colonization and removal of indigenous people from cultural lands led to erosion and detachment from the knowledge of the land and its useful plants. The species is used in selected restaurants where the inflorescence is steamed and eaten as a vegetable or added into a stew. This review explores the importance of Asphodelaceae family, T. ciliata as a vegetable crop and its potential as a pharmaceutical candidate. Furthermore, this review examines potential technological advances such as hydroponics that could be used for sustainable crop production of T. ciliata. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was utilized in the selection of articles in this review. The existing literature provided useful information on the potential of T. ciliata as a vegetable crop and the importance of using halophytes to achieve food security. This appraisal is expected to serve as a template for researchers, food enthusiasts, potential farmers and policy makers who may be keen in exploring further nutritional composition and medicinal potential of this plant.&nbsp

The Sierra de las Nieves National Park, declared by the Spanish Government in July 2021, is part of the Serranía de Ronda (Western Baetic mountains), which is considered one of the main centres of biodiversity and endemicity of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Andalusia, Spain) and the Mediterranean Basin. The park and its surroundings have an important diversity of vascular plants, mainly due to the orographic, climatic and geological diversity of the area, which is divided into three biogeographical sectors: Rondeño sector (limestones, dolomites and clays), Bermejense sector (peridotites and serpentines) and Aljíbico sector (gneisses and micaschists). This contribution presents the first catalogue of the vascular flora of this national park and its surrounding area, with 1,387 taxa distributed in 104 families and 542 genera. An amount of 79 taxa are endemic to Andalusia and 57 are endangered: 4 are Critically Endangered (CR), 17 are Endangered (EN) and 36 are Vulnerable (VU).

The confident identification to species rank of fragmentary and sterile plant material is often challenged by the absence of diagnostic characters, which are present in intact specimens, reproductive parts, and plants in habitat. Here, we consider leaf surface micromorphology for the identification of the genus Aloe in the Horn of Africa region. Primary and secondary sculpturing of the leaf epidermis and stomata were characterised from SEM micrographs of 35 taxa representing 31 species of Aloe (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae). Detailed comparison revealed that leaf surface characters are conserved between species and within-species variation is modest. Closely related taxa in the Aloe adigratana—A. camperi—A. sinana species complex could be distinguished using leaf surface micromorphology alone. These characters also guide species delimitation; in the species complex including A. schoelleri and A. steudneri, a narrow circumscription is supported, whereas with A. ankoberensis and A. pulcherrima, a wider circumscription merits consideration. The observed trait combinations are characteristic of plants in xeric environments, with the most notable feature being stomata that are most deeply sunken in species in more arid habitats. Our findings support the use of comparative study of micromorphological leaf surface characters for species identification and taxonomy in the genus Aloe.

Aloe ×selmarii (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a hybrid between A. davyana var. davyana and A. parvibracteata, is described. Although the natural distribution ranges of the parent species do not overlap, this nothospecies is often encountered as a result of the cultivation of A. parvibracteata outside its natural range, in areas where A. davyana var. davyana occurs naturally.

A new species of Aloe, A. uigensis (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), is described from northwestern Angola. It is a non-proliferous, single-stemmed species that bears narrowly elongated, acuminate racemes with orange to pale reddish flowers. Aloe uigensis is compared to some long-known as well as recently described species of Aloe from Angola, but does not have close relatives with which it can be confused in the country.

Bulbine abyssinica, Bulbine frutescens and Bulbine natalensis of the Asphodelaceae family have been used for many years, traditionally for the treatment of skin related conditions such as wounds, scars, burns ad rashes. To date, these plants have been studied for various medicinal properties, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and even anti-platelet activity. This review article aims to discuss the ethnobotanical uses and medicinal activity from the perspective of abiotic stress impacts, specifically elevated carbon dioxide and high temperature. Literature sources obtained from Google Scholar, Science Direct, theses and books were used to search for the ethnobotanical, traditional uses, and pharmacological studies of the species. In addition, articles around the concurrent and separate studies of elevated CO₂ and temperature impacts on medicinal activities of other medicinal plant species were also sourced for reference purposes because there have not been any reported studies discussing the impacts of the aforementioned abiotic factors on the species.

Smith, Gideon F., Klopper, Ronell R. (2022): Aloe immaculata and A. affinis (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), two endemics from northern and eastern South Africa, are different maculate aloe species. Phytotaxa 571 (3): 291-300, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.571.3.3, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.571.3.3

Aloe affinis Berger (1908: 206) (Fig. 2). Also treated in: Groenewald (1941: 69, 131, 156–158, 167, Figs14–17), Reynolds (1950: 243), Judd (1967: 14, plate 4), Jeppe (1969: 80), Bornman & Hardy (1971: 105), Jacobsen (1977: 70), Jacobsen (1986: 140), Van Wyk & Smith (1996: 182), Glen & Hardy (2000: 57, pro parte excl. A. immaculata), Newton (2001: 106), Van Wyk & Smith (2003: 186), Smith & Van Wyk (2008: 84), Grace (2009: 111, pro parte excl. A. immaculata), Carter et al. (2011: 186), Grace et al. (2011: 7, pro parte excl. A. immaculata), Van Wyk & Smith (2014: 210), Klopper (2015: 324, 573), Newton (2020: 494). Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Mpumalanga province, near Mashishing [Lydenburg], August 1894, F. Wilms 1490 (holotype B †; lectotype P P02053262 [https://plants.jstor. org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.p02053262]; isolectotype E E00193926 [https://plants.jstor.org/stable/ viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.e00193926] and E E00200122 [https://plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap. specimen.e00200122], Z Z-000086741). Lectotype designated by Smith et al. (2020b). [Note: The specimen kept at Herb. Z is filed under the name Aloe dyeri Schönland (1905: 289).] Nomenclatural note on the type of the name Aloe affinis :—The typification of the name A. affinis was discussed in detail by Smith et al. (2020b: 79). Description:—Plants medium-sized, low-growing, solitary, rosettes erect, 0.2–0.3 m tall. Stem absent or very short. Leaves densely rosulate, arcuate-erect to suberect, slightly spreading, ± 300–450 mm long, usually with additional 100 mm dried twisted reddish brown apex, 90–110 mm wide at base; adaxial surface yellowish green, immaculate or occasionally obscurely spotted, distinctly dark-lined, mostly flat, sometimes concave; abaxial surface usually paler green, immaculate, more obscurely lineate; margin very prominent, horny, reddish brown to dark brown, with pungent deltoid reddish brown teeth, 5–8 mm long, 10–15 mm apart, straight or slightly curved towards leaf base; exudate drying pale yellow. Inflorescence 1–2 per rosette simultaneously or consecutively, up to 1 m high, erect, 5–10- branched panicle, branched from about middle or below, branches widely spreading to arcuate-erect; peduncle stout, deep green to brownish with grey powdery bloom, without sterile bracts below first branch, with few bracts below racemes, narrowly deltoid, up to 70 mm long, dry. Racemes cylindrical-acuminate, apex rounded, up to 250 mm long, erect, rather densely flowered; buds erect to spreading, flowers pendent at anthesis. Floral bracts narrowly deltoid, spreading and recurved, sometimes coiled backwards, 15–20 mm long, 3 mm wide, as long as or longer than pedicels, very thin, scarious, ± 5-nerved. Pedicels 15–20 mm long. Flowers: perianth: dull brick-red to coral-red, 40–45(–50) mm long, 9–10 mm across ovary, abruptly constricted above ovary to 5–6 mm to yield bulbous base, widening to 8–9 mm towards slightly upturned mouth, slightly decurved, outer segments free for 10 mm, tips slightly spreading; stamens with filiform-flattened filaments, not or very shortly exserted; ovary 9 mm long, 3 mm diam., green; style exserted 2–4 mm. Fruit a bluish grey capsule, ± 17 × 8 mm, dry remains of perigone persistent for long time. Seed not seen. Chromosome number: 2 n = 14 (Groenewald 1941: 156–158, 167, Figs14–17). Flowering time: — Aloe affinis flowers between May and June(–July) (winter in the southern hemisphere), Habitat: — Aloe affinis grows in dense grassy patches in very fire-prone habitats and is often found on gentle slopes in rocky, hilly places or on open grassy slopes. Some areas where A. affinis used to occur are densely planted with exotic pine and eucalyptus species for the commercial paper and pulp industry. Distribution: — Aloe affinis mainly occurs from northwestern Eswatini, and Airlie and White River in the south along the eastern escarpment to the Mariepskop area in the Mpumalanga province, and to near the Echo Caves (north of Ohrigstad), Limpopo province, South Africa (Fig. 3). Outlying forms resembling A. affinis are known from Ermelo, Mpumalanga province, in the south, and north to Tzaneen, Limpopo province, South Africa. In the latter instance the specimen could not be located in Herb. PRE to verify its identity. Additional specimens investigated: — ESWATINI. Mtutusi River, Havelock, 29 June 1961, R.H. Compton 29121 (K; NBG, 2 sheets). Havelock, 3 July 1963, R.H. Compton 29121 (NBG, 2 sheets). SOUTH AFRICA. Mpumalanga province. East of Airlie, and along road to Godwan River, 6 May 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1284 (K, 2 sheets; PRE, 2 sheets). Nort-northwest of White River, August 1955, flowered at Greendale, Salisbury [Harare, Zimbabwe], May 1957, L.C. Leach 244 (K). Rosehaugh, 8 May 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1302 (PRE, 3 sheets); 17 June 1941, G.W. Reynolds NBG 1119/35 (NBG). Schoemanskloof, June 1932, J.C. Smuts 308 (PRE); J.C. Smuts 309 (K; PRE); 4 May 1938, F.Z. van der Merwe 1687 (K; PRE, 2 sheets). Schoemans Kloof, east of Machadodorp, Flowered in Johannesburg 7 July 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1122 (PRE). Schoemans Kloof road, east of Lydenburg turn-off, 8 August 2003, R. Klein, L.A. Nkuna & E. van Wyk 700 (K, 3 sheets). Crocodile River Valley, northeast of Machadodorp, 21 June 1937, G.W. Reynolds 2491 (K; PRE, 2 sheets). Wonderkloof Natuurreservaat, 12 September 1979, J.P. Kluge 1944 (PRE). South of Sabie, 10 May 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1305 (K, 2 sheets; PRE, 2 sheets). Vertroosting Nature Reserve, 15 June 1968, D. Edwards 4034 (K; PRE). Lydenburg, flowered at Union Buildings [Pretoria], 21 August 1904, I.B. Pole Evans 18 (PRE). Lydenburg, collected 21 August 1914, flowered at [Botany] Laboratory, Pretoria, 22 May 1916, I.B. Pole Evans 149 (K; PRE). Lydenburg, 6 August 1941, E. Struben NBG 1153/30 (NBG). Near Lydenburg, August 1894, F. Wilms TM10169 (PRE). Lydenburg, Witklip, 24 June 1974, J.P. Kluge 585 (LNBG; PRE). Mt Anderson, 29 April 1980, G.L. Mohle 334 (LNBG; PRE). Ohrigstaddam Nature Reserve, 22 May 1973, N.H.G. Jacobsen 2873 (PRE). Ehlanzeni, Mac Mac Falls, between Sabie and Graskop, 11 July 2007, O. Grace, E. van Wyk, L.A. Nknuna & W.F. Mabatha 87 (K; PRE). Between Sabie and Graskop, 8 August 2003, E. van Wyk, R.G. Klein & L.A. Nkuna 698 (PRE). North of Graskop, 24 June 2002, M. MacMahan MM00127 (PRE). Pilgrims Rest, 5 May 1916, Mr Ellor 153A & B (PRE). East of Pilgrims Rest, 18 June 1937, G.W. Reynolds 2468 (K; PRE, 2 sheets). The Berg, west of Pilgrims Rest, 11 May 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1309 (PRE, 2 sheets). Mariepskop, s.d., J.F. van der Schijff 4930 (PRE). SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo. Near Echo Cave, 24 May 1961, R.G. Strey 3768 (K, PRE). Specimens resembling A. affinis: — SOUTH AFRICA. Mpumalanga province. Carolina, Buffelspruit, 12 August 1969, I.C. Verdoorn 2521 (PRE). Midway between Ermelo and Carolina, s.d., A. Hertzog PRE38084 (PRE, 3 sheets). SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo province. East of Tzaneen, road to Leydsdorp, 5 May 1961, D.R.J. van Vuuren 1218 (PRE [specimen not located]). [The latter three localities are not reflected on the distribution map presented in Fig. 3.], Published as part of Smith, Gideon F. & Klopper, Ronell R., 2022, Aloe immaculata and A. affinis (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), two endemics from northern and eastern South Africa, are different maculate aloe species, pp. 291-300 in Phytotaxa 571 (3) on pages 297-298, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.571.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7284713, {"references":["Berger, A. (1908) 8. Aloe L. In: Engler, A. (ed.) Liliaceae-Asphodeloideae-Aloineae. Das Pflanzenreich IV. 38. III. II. Heft 33. Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, pp. 159 - 326. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / item / 68230 page / 165 / mode / 1 up]","Groenewald, B. H. (1941) Die aalwyne van Suid-Afrika, Suidwes-Afrika, Portugees Oos-Afrika, Swaziland, Basoetoeland, en ' n spesiale ondersoek van die klassifikasie, chromosome en areale van die Aloe Maculatae. Die Nasionale Pers Beperk, Bloemfontein, 172 pp.","Reynolds, G. W. (1950 [December]) The aloes of South Africa. The Trustees, The Aloes of South Africa Book Fund, Johannesburg, 520 pp.","Judd, E. (1967) What aloe is that? A Purnell Pocketbook. Southern African Series. Purnell, Cape Town & Johannesburg, 76 pp.","Jeppe, B. (1969) South African aloes. Purnell & Sons S. A. (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town, Johannesburg, London, 144 pp.","Bornman, H. & Hardy, D. [S.] (1971) Aloes of the South African veld. Voortrekkerpers, Johannesburg, 299 pp.","Jacobsen, H. (1977) Lexicon of succulent plants. Short descriptions, habitats and synonymy of succulent plants other than Cactaceae. Blandford Press Ltd, Poole, Dorset, 682 pp.","Jacobsen, H. (1986) A handbook of succulent plants. Descriptions, synonyms and cultural details for succulents other than Cactaceae. Vol. 1. Abromeitiella to Euphorbia. Blandford Press Ltd, Poole, Dorset, 464 pp.","Van Wyk, B-E. & Smith, G. [F.] (1996) Guide to the aloes of South Africa. 1 st edition. Briza Publications, Pretoria, 302 pp.","Glen, H. F. & Hardy, D. S. (2000) Aloaceae (First part): Aloe. In: Germishuizen, G. (ed.) Flora of southern Africa, Vol. 5, Part 1, Fasc. 1. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria, pp. 1 - 167.","Newton, L. E. (2001) Aloe. In: Eggli, U. (ed.) Illustrated handbook of succulent plants: Monocotyledons. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 103 - 186.","Van Wyk, B-E. & Smith, G. [F.] (2003) Guide to the aloes of South Africa. 2 nd edition. Briza Publications, Pretoria, 304 pp.","Smith, G. F. & Van Wyk, B. (2008) Aloes in southern Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, 136 pp.","Carter, S., Lavranos, J. J., Newton, L. E. & Walker, C. C. (2011) Aloes. The definitive guide. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew / British Cactus & Succulent Society, London, 719 pp.","Grace, O. M., Klopper, R. R., Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G. F. (2011) The aloe names book. Strelitzia 29. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 232 pp. https: // hdl. handle. net / 20.500.12143 / 270","Van Wyk, B-E. & Smith, G. F. (2014) Guide to the aloes of South Africa. 3 rd edition. Briza Publications, Pretoria, 376 pp.","Klopper, R. R. (2015) Contributions to the systematics of the genus Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae) in southern Africa. Ph. D. thesis. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 712 pp.","Newton, L. E. (2020) Aloe. In: Eggli, U. & Nyffeler, R. (eds.) Illustrated handbook of succulent plants: Monocotyledons, Vol. 1. SpringerVerlag, Berlin, pp. 485 - 696.","Smith, G. F., Figueiredo, E. & Esser, H. - J. (2020 b) The aloes of Friedrich Wilms: notes on Aloe wilmsii Diels ex Hausen, A. affinis A. Berger, and A. cinnabarina Diels ex A. Berger (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), with a biographical sketch of Wilms. Bradleya 38: 75 - 83. https: // doi. org / 10.25223 / brad. n 38.2020. a 10","Schonland, S. (1905) On some South African species of Aloe with special reference to those represented in the Herbarium of the Albany Museum. II. Records of the Albany Museum 1: 282 - 295. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / item / 31254 page / 308 / mode / 1 up]"]}

Aloe immaculata Pillans (1934: 25) (Fig. 1). Also treated in: Groenewald (1941: 134), Reynolds (1950: 239), Judd (1967: 28, plate 7), Jeppe (1969: 81), Bornman & Hardy (1971: 101), Jacobsen (1977: 84), Jacobsen (1986: 170), Van Wyk & Smith (1996: 200), Newton (2001: 143), Smith (2003: 32), Van Wyk & Smith (2003: 204), Smith & Van Wyk (2008: 89), Carter et al. (2011: 185), Van Wyk & Smith (2014: 240), Klopper (2015: 342, 592), Newton (2020: 579). Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo province, Pietersburg [Polokwane] district, Malips Drift, s.d., s.c. s.n., Flowered in Stellenbosch University Garden, August 1933, H. Herre SUG6774 (holotype BOL [Image available at https://plants. jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.bol140159]). Nomenclatural note on the type of the name Aloe immaculata :— Reynolds (1950: 240) noted that the type specimen of A. immaculata is not typical of the species. This could be because the plant was cultivated outside of its natural distribution range or as a result of possible hybridisation at the original collecting site (see further under ‘Notes’ below). It is not known by who and when the plant that provided the type material was collected in the field. When it flowered in August 1933 in the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden, a specimen was prepared by the then curator of the garden, Hans Herre. This specimen was designated as type when Pillans (1934) described A. immaculata as a new species. Description:—Plants medium-sized, low-growing, solitary, rosette erect, up to 450 mm tall. Stem ± absent or short, to 100(–150) mm long, simple, thickened lower down if present, clothed in persistent, twisted, dried leaves. Leaves very densely rosulate, erect at first, then horizontally spreading, lanceolate-attenuate, (150–)250(–300) mm long, (60–)70(–80) mm wide at base, apical portion dry, twisted; adaxial surface dull green to brownish green, usually immaculate, or with very few scattered spots towards base, faintly to distinctly longitudinally brownish- to greenish- to purplish-lined, lines narrow, not confluent, adaxially flat to canaliculate, texture smooth; abaxial surface dull greyish green to brownish green, immaculate, paler than adaxial surface, sometimes very finely greenish-lined; margins shiny brown to shiny reddish brown, armed with prominent, short, very pungent, elongated deltoid, shiny-brown, yellowishtipped teeth, 4–5(–6) mm long, (7–)10(–5) mm apart, straight to variously curved towards leaf base; exudate drying purple. Inflorescence usually only one produced per season, to ± 1 m tall, erect to slightly leaning, (6–)10(–16)- branched panicle, usually branched below middle, branches gracefully curved upwards; peduncle stout, lacking sterile bracts below racemes, panicle branches subtended by prominent fertile bracts of 15–50 mm long, irregularly deltoid to lanceolate-triangular, dull light brown to creamy white, drying rapidly, distinctly longitudinally dark brown lined. Racemes subcapitate to conical and round-topped, tapering upwards or round-topped, 100–130 mm long, 80–90 mm wide where flowers are at anthesis, rather densely flowered; buds erect to erectly spreading, flowers pendulous at anthesis. Floral bracts narrowly lanceolate, variously twisted, 8–12 mm long, much narrower than fertile bracts, as long as or slightly shorter than pedicels, creamy white, drying rapidly, 3–many dark brown-nerved. Pedicels (10–) 12– 15 mm long, orange to reddish orange when young, light green with age. Flowers: perianth: buds ± uniformly coral red to dull pink, dark-tipped; open flowers ± uniformly coral red, orange or pink for basal ⅔, alternately light pink and dark-coloured in apical ⅓, ± 28–34 mm long, ± 6–7 mm across ovary, narrowed above ovary to yield bulbous base, distinctly enlarged towards mouth, middle ± straight to down-curved, widening towards mouth; tips of segments slightly spreading, outer segments free for ⅓ of their length; stamens with filiform-flattened filaments, uniformly light yellow, exserted for up to 1–2 mm; ovary 6–7 mm long, 3 mm in diam., light green; style well-exserted, uniformly light yellow; stigma tiny, very slightly capitate, yellowish. Fruit a light green to purplish green capsule, 15–20 × 8–10 mm, dry remains of perigone persistent for long time. Seed not seen. Chromosome number: 2 n = 14 (Riley & Majumdar 1979: 46). Flowering time: — Aloe immaculata flowers between May and August (winter in the southern hemisphere), and often into September (spring). Habitat: — Aloe immaculata grows in often very dense grassy patches in bushveld (savanna) vegetation. Distribution: — Aloe immaculata is only known with certainty from the Chuenespoort and Malipsdrift areas in Limpopo province, South Africa (Fig. 3). Outlying forms resembling A. immaculata have been recorded from Makapan’s Valley further to the west. Notes: —From unpublished correspondence (held at Herb. BOL) between G.W. Reynolds and N.S. Pillans, it is evident that Reynolds spent many hours studying the aloes at and near the type locality of A. immaculata during several visits to that area. Reynolds (1950) concluded that there is a high incidence of hybridisation among the winterflowering maculate aloes [namely A. immaculata, A. greatheadii, A. davyana, and A. mutans] in the region between Chuenespoort and the Olifants River (near Malipsdrift)—the natural geographic distribution range of A. immaculata. However, Reynolds was convinced, as are we, that A. immaculata represents a distinct species that is characterised by unspotted, distinctly brown-lined leaves in solitary rosettes, with racemes that are cylindrical and round-topped, and longer than in A. greatheadii, but shorter and not as pyramidal as in A. davyana. He concluded that, where plants have leaves with few to many, usually obscure spots, the inflorescences are either more capitate or more pyramidal, leading Reynolds to believe that these plants represent hybrids between A. immaculata and A. greatheadii or A. davyana, respectively (Reynolds 1950, and unpublished correspondence and notes held at Herbs BOL and PRE). Since the spellings ‘Chunies Poort’ or ‘Chuniespoort’ were used historically, including on specimen labels, these spellings are retained for the place names from where the specimens cited below were collected. Note though that the standardised spelling is ‘Chuenespoort’ (Raper et al. 2014: 71). Additional specimens investigated: — SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo province. Malips River Valley, 11 July 1937, G.W. Reynolds 2518 (K; PRE, 2 sheets). Malips River Valley, Bewaarkloof road, 11 July 1937, G.W. Reynolds 2516 (K; PRE); G.W. Reynolds 2517 (PRE). Mphatlele’s location, 15 May 1914, I.B. Pole Evans 169 (PRE). Near Chuniespoort, May 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1347A & B (PRE, 2 sheets). East of Chunies Poort Police Post, 11 August 1935, G.W. Reynolds 1530 (K; PRE). East of Chunies Poort Police Post on road to Malips Drift, 21 May 1936, G.W. Reynolds 1582 (GRA; K; PRE). East of Chuniespoort, 28 June 2007, O. Grace, E. van Wyk, L.A. Nkuna & W.F. Mabatha 62 (K; PRE); O. Grace, E. van Wyk, L.A. Nkuna & W.F. Mabatha 64 (K, 2 sheets). South of Chuniespoort, 28 June 2007, G.F. Smith 1159 (PRU). Specimens resembling A. immaculata: — SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo province. Makapan Valley, 20 July 1951, B. Maguire 907 (K; NBG, 4 sheets; PRE). Between Lydenburg & Chuniespoort, May 1932, fl. June 1934 in Garden at DPI [Pretoria], I.B. Pole Evans PRE38083 (PRE). [These localities are not included in the distribution map presented in Fig. 3.], Published as part of Smith, Gideon F. & Klopper, Ronell R., 2022, Aloe immaculata and A. affinis (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), two endemics from northern and eastern South Africa, are different maculate aloe species, pp. 291-300 in Phytotaxa 571 (3) on pages 295-297, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.571.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7284713, {"references":["Pillans, N. S. (1934) Plants: new or noteworthy. South African Gardening 24: 25 - 27.","Groenewald, B. H. (1941) Die aalwyne van Suid-Afrika, Suidwes-Afrika, Portugees Oos-Afrika, Swaziland, Basoetoeland, en ' n spesiale ondersoek van die klassifikasie, chromosome en areale van die Aloe Maculatae. Die Nasionale Pers Beperk, Bloemfontein, 172 pp.","Reynolds, G. W. (1950 [December]) The aloes of South Africa. The Trustees, The Aloes of South Africa Book Fund, Johannesburg, 520 pp.","Judd, E. (1967) What aloe is that? A Purnell Pocketbook. Southern African Series. Purnell, Cape Town & Johannesburg, 76 pp.","Jeppe, B. (1969) South African aloes. Purnell & Sons S. A. (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town, Johannesburg, London, 144 pp.","Bornman, H. & Hardy, D. [S.] (1971) Aloes of the South African veld. Voortrekkerpers, Johannesburg, 299 pp.","Jacobsen, H. (1977) Lexicon of succulent plants. Short descriptions, habitats and synonymy of succulent plants other than Cactaceae. Blandford Press Ltd, Poole, Dorset, 682 pp.","Jacobsen, H. (1986) A handbook of succulent plants. Descriptions, synonyms and cultural details for succulents other than Cactaceae. Vol. 1. Abromeitiella to Euphorbia. Blandford Press Ltd, Poole, Dorset, 464 pp.","Van Wyk, B-E. & Smith, G. [F.] (1996) Guide to the aloes of South Africa. 1 st edition. Briza Publications, Pretoria, 302 pp.","Newton, L. E. (2001) Aloe. In: Eggli, U. (ed.) Illustrated handbook of succulent plants: Monocotyledons. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 103 - 186.","Smith, G. F. (2003) First field guide to aloes of southern Africa. Struik Nature, Cape Town, 57 pp.","Van Wyk, B-E. & Smith, G. [F.] (2003) Guide to the aloes of South Africa. 2 nd edition. Briza Publications, Pretoria, 304 pp.","Smith, G. F. & Van Wyk, B. (2008) Aloes in southern Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, 136 pp.","Carter, S., Lavranos, J. J., Newton, L. E. & Walker, C. C. (2011) Aloes. The definitive guide. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew / British Cactus & Succulent Society, London, 719 pp.","Van Wyk, B-E. & Smith, G. F. (2014) Guide to the aloes of South Africa. 3 rd edition. Briza Publications, Pretoria, 376 pp.","Klopper, R. R. (2015) Contributions to the systematics of the genus Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae) in southern Africa. Ph. D. thesis. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 712 pp.","Newton, L. E. (2020) Aloe. In: Eggli, U. & Nyffeler, R. (eds.) Illustrated handbook of succulent plants: Monocotyledons, Vol. 1. SpringerVerlag, Berlin, pp. 485 - 696.","Riley, H. P. & Majumdar, S. K. (1979) The Aloineae. A biosystematic survey. The University of Kentucky Press, place of publication not stated, 180 pp. [\" Index of Families, Genera & Species \" only partially numbered; https: // www. jstor. org / stable / j. ctt 130 jhd 1]","Raper, P. E., Moller, L. A. & Du Plessis, L. T. (2014) Dictionary of Southern African place names. Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg & Cape Town, 566 pp."]}

Nomenclature of Aloiampelos tenuior var. ernstii Aloiampelos tenuior (Haworth 1825: 281) Klopper & Gideon F.Sm. in Grace et al. (2013: 11) var. ernstii Gideon F.Sm. & Figueiredo, var. nov. Type: — SOUTH AFRICA. Gauteng province.—2528 (Pretoria): Tshwane, (–CA), ex hort., material originally collected in a domestic garden in Somerset West, Western Cape, South Africa, 20 August 2016, G .F. Smith & E. Figueiredo 42 (holotype PRU). Diagnosis:— Aloiampelos tenuior var. ernstii differs from A. tenuior var. tenuior (40–45 mm long yellow flowers) and A. tenuior var. rubriflora (± 20 mm long red flowers) by its shorter (12–15 mm long), orange flowers. Plants of A. tenuior var. ernstii are generally daintier in most vegetative respects, with their leaves generally being narrower than those of A. tenuior var. tenuior and A. tenuior var. rubriflora. Description.—Perennial, herbaceous, tangled, succulent shrub of 0.75–1.00 m tall. Stems clumped, slender, (0.5–) 0.75–1.00 m long, 5–10 mm diameter, branched low down or higher, erectly spreading or scandent to recurved or decumbent, mostly without persistent dried leaves. Roots cylindrical, 5 mm in diameter. Leaves rosulately and widely cauline-dispersed, erectly spreading to down-curved, papery when dry, dull light green to mid-green, without spots, linear-lanceolate to linear-attenuate, adaxial surface slightly concave to canaliculate; abaxial surface convex, texture smooth, tapering to apex, 7–19 cm long, 0.9–1.1 cm broad at base, basally sheathing; sheath obscurely to distinctly green-lineate, not auriculate, 0.5–2.0 cm long; margin same colour as blade, not cartilaginous, with minute, white teeth, up to 0.5 mm long, 1–5 mm apart. Inflorescence 1–3, borne simultaneously or successively, 10–12 cm tall, rarely once-branched, branch arcuate-erect. Peduncle 60–70 mm long, 3–4 mm broad at base, basally plano-convex, cylindrical above, light green, lacking a white, powdery bloom; sterile bracteate lower down, sterile bracts up to 5, basal bracts deltoid-triangular, apical bracts long-attenuate and hair-like, 3–6 mm long, straw-coloured, scarious, 1–3- nerved. Racemes cylindrical, 5–8 cm long, 4–5 cm wide; buds erect to suberect, flowers horizontal to drooping when mature. Floral bracts tapering long-attenuate and hair-like from a deltoid triangular base, not amplexicaul around pedicel, 3–4 mm long, 1.0– 1.5 mm wide, straw-coloured, papery, 3- or 4-nerved, central nerve dark brown, prominent. Pedicels 3–4 mm long, light green. Flowers: actinomorphic, unscented, nectariferous; perianth orange, yellow towards tip, tip extremity green in bud and when mature, not pruinose, 12–15 mm long, rounded at base, ± 3 mm across ovary, enlarging to 4 mm towards wide open mouth, cylindrical, tubular-cymbiform; outer segments lorate, free for ± 4 mm, free portion centrally green, borders yellow, acute, blunt-tipped, segment margins straight, tips slightly flared open; inner segments ± same size as outer segments, with yellow border and slightly more obtuse apex, free for ± 4 mm; s tamens with cylindrically thread-like, light yellow, basally inserted filaments, 12–15 mm long, all 6 of ± equal length, prominently exserted for 2–3 mm; anthers small, 1–2 mm long, yellow, fading brown, versatile; ovary 3–4 mm long, ± 2 mm in diameter, light yellow; style as long as or slightly longer than stamens, minutely capitate, with small stigma, exserted 1–2 mm. Fruit not seen. Seeds not seen. Chromosome number unknown. Phenology:—The varieties recognised in A. tenuior flower at various times of the year, and have also been known to sporadically produce inflorescences out of season. Like A. tenuior var. densiflora, A. tenuior var. ernstii flowers during winter, but will also produce inflorescences well into spring. However, A. tenuior var. densiflora has yellow, not orange, flowers. Vernacular names:—The large number of vernacular names—12 that we are aware of—recorded for A. tenuior attests to its popularity in horticulture and its uses in traditional medicine (Grace et al. 2011: 152). The names include: rankaalwyn and heuningaalwyn (Afrikaans); fence aloe (English); ikhalane (Xhosa); and inhlaba empofu (Zulu). Eponymy:— Aloiampelos tenuior var. ernstii is named for Dr Ernst Jacobus van Jaarsveld (19 February 1953, Johannesburg, Gauteng province, South Africa –). Ernst matriculated from Linden High School after which he studied for and was awarded a National Diploma in Horticulture in 1975. In 1990 he graduated with an M.Sc. in plant systematics from the University of Natal, now the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In 2012 Ernst was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Pretoria for his work on cremnophytic plants. Dr Van Jaarsveld was employed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute for more than 40 years, where after he accepted an appointment at Babylonstoren Farm, near Simondium, Western Cape province, where he is inter alia involved in establishing a succulent plant collection. In these positions he has mentored and trained several young horticulturists. Ernst has a longstanding interest in succulents and has contributed significantly to our knowledge of the southern African flora in general. Cultivation:—Although A. tenuior var. ernstii was commonly grown in gardens in many parts of South Africa some 40 to 50 years ago, it is now much less often cultivated. This can likely be attributed to this variety in some respects being less vigorous in cultivation, when compared to A. tenuior var. tenuior and A. tenuior var. rubriflora. However, this new variety is easy in cultivation. The lower portion of stem cuttings of 20–50 cm long can be placed in the soil directly in the place where they are intended to grow. Plants grow well in full sun as well as in dappled shade., Published as part of Smith, Gideon F., Figueiredo, Estrela, Klopper, Ronell R., Campbell, Eileen E. & Martin, Kristen, 2022, Aloiampelos tenuior var. ernstii, a new orange-flowered variety of rambling aloe (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), pp. 91-96 in Phytotaxa 571 (1) on pages 94-95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.571.1.8, http://zenodo.org/record/7270560, {"references":["Haworth, A. H. (1825 [06 July]) XLIV. Decas quinta novarum Plantarum Succulentarum (\" Mr Haworth's Fifth Decade of new Succulent Plants. \"). The Philosophical Magazine and Journal 66 (Issue 330): 279 - 283. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 14786442508673967","Grace, O. M., Klopper, R. R., Smith, G. F., Crouch, N. R., Figueiredo, E., Ronsted, N. & Van Wyk, A. E. (2013) A revised generic classification for Aloe (Xanthorrhoeaceae subfam. Asphodeloideae). Phytotaxa 76: 7 - 14. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / phytotaxa. 76.1.2","Grace, O. M., Klopper, R. R., Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G. F. (2011) The aloe names book. Strelitzia 28. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 232 pp. [https: // hdl. handle. net / 20.500.12143 / 270]"]}

729. Gethosyne aequivocalis Warren, 1896c: 221 Type locality: Khasias [Khasi Hills, Meghalaya] Distribution. Indian records: Khasis (Meghalaya) (Warren 1896c). Global records: unknown. Genus Glauconoe Warren, 1892: 296 Type species: Botys deductalis Walker, 1859a, by original designation, Published as part of Singh, Navneet, Ranjan, Rahul, Talukdar, Avishek, Joshi, Rahul, Kirti, Jagbir Singh, Chandra, Kailash & Mally, Richard, 2022, A catalogue of Indian Pyraloidea (Lepidoptera), pp. 1-423 in Zootaxa 5197 (1) on page 281, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5197.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7252292, {"references":["Warren, W. (1896 c) New species of Pyralidae from the Khasia Hills. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, including Zoology, Botany and Geology, Series 6, 18, 107 - 119 + 163 - 177 + 214 - 232. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222939608680433","Warren, W. (1892) Descriptions of new genera and species of Pyralidae contained in the British Museum collection. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, including Zoology, Botany and Geology, Series 6, 9, 172 - 179 + 294 - 302 + 389 - 397 + 429 - 442. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222939208677357","Walker, F. (1859 a) List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Part XVI - Deltoides, XVII - Pyralides, Part XVIII - Pyralides, Part XIX - Pyralides. The Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, iv + 1036 pp."]}

Distribution. Indian records: West Himalaya (Sanyal et al. 2018). Global records: Java (Snellen 1895)., Published as part of Singh, Navneet, Ranjan, Rahul, Talukdar, Avishek, Joshi, Rahul, Kirti, Jagbir Singh, Chandra, Kailash & Mally, Richard, 2022, A catalogue of Indian Pyraloidea (Lepidoptera), pp. 1-423 in Zootaxa 5197 (1) on page 134, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5197.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7252292, {"references":["Sanyal, A. K., Mallick, K., Khan, S., Bandyopadhyay, U., Mazumder, A., Bhattacharyya, K., Pathania, P. C., Raha, A. & Chandra, K. (2018) Insecta: Lepidoptera (Moths). In: Chandra, K., Gupta, D., Gopi, K. C., Tripathy, B. & Kumar, V. (Eds.), Faunal Diversity of Indian Himalaya. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, pp. 651 - 726.","Snellen, P. C. T. (1895) Aanteekeningen over Pyraliden met beschrijving van nieuwe genera en soorten. Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, 38, 103 - 161, pls. 5 - 6."]}

Smith, Gideon F., Klopper, Ronell R. (2022): Reinstatement of Aloe longibracteata (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a maculate aloe from northeastern South Africa. Phytotaxa 568 (2): 191-203, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.568.2.4, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.568.2.4

Aloe longibracteata Pole Evans (1915: 25) Also treated in: Pole Evans (1928: t. 299), Groenewald (1941: 71, 104, 167), Reynolds (1950: 262), Judd (1967: 27, plate 7), Jeppe (1969: 92), Bornman & Hardy (1971: 125), Jacobsen (1977: 86), Jacobsen (1986: 174), Van Wyk & Smith (1996: 204), Smith (2003: 33), Van Wyk & Smith (2003: 208), Grace (2009: 119), Carter et al. (2011: 165), Grace et al. (2011: 90–91), Van Wyk & Smith (2014: 248–249), Klopper (2015: 345, 597), Newton (2020: 598). Type: — SOUTH AFRICA, Mpumalanga, Lydenburg, May 1914, I. B. Pole Evans 56 (holotype PRE PRE0086205 -0 [Image available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.pre0086205-0]). Epitype (here designated):— SOUTH AFRICA, Mpumalanga province, Lydenburg, collected May 1914, flowered at Laboratory, Pretoria, 8 June 1916, Pole Evans 56 (epitype PRE PRE0086134 -0 [Image available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen. pre0086134-0]; isoepitype K K000256636 [Image available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.k000256636]). Notes on the holo- and epitype of the name Aloe longibracteata :—In the protologue of the name A. longibracteata, Pole Evans (1915: 25) states that: “This plant was collected by myself near Lydenburg in the Transvaal in May, 1914. It grows in open grass country at an altitude of 5,000 –6,000 ft., and flowers from June to July.” Herb. PRE holds a specimen of A. longibracteata, Pole Evans 56, that has information associated with it that corresponds to the collecting date and place stated in the protologue (Pole Evans 1915: 25). This information satisfies Turland et al. (2018: Art. 40.3 Note 2) because concrete reference to some detail relating to the actual type, such as collector’s name [I. B. Pole Evans] or date [May 1914], was provided—it was not mere citation of a locality. However, there are two sheets of Pole Evans 56 at Herb. PRE: one (PRE0086205 -0), the holotype, is dated May 1914, while the other one (PRE0086134 -0) indicates that the plant was collected in May 1914, but that it flowered two years later at the [Botany] Laboratory in Pretoria (see Smith et al. 2021b for a discussion on aloe research and cultivation there), on 8 June 1916, when that specimen was made. This second specimen is therefore not an isotype (duplicate of the holotype). On a determination slip by Hugh Glen and Dave Hardy, dated 1991-04-04 where they identified the material as “ Aloe greatheadii var. davyana ”, these two specimens are indicated as “ Holotype of synonym, Sheet 1 of 2” (PRE 0086134-0, 8 June 1916) and “ Holotype of synonym, Sheet 2 of 2” (PRE 0086205-0, May 1914). However, the sheet numbers were not indicated as such when the specimens were originally prepared and accessioned in Herb. PRE, and these two specimens therefore cannot be regarded as sheets of the same collection, especially also since it does not constitute a single collecting event (Turland et al. 2018; Articles 8.2 and 8.3) because of the different dates on the sheets. Furthermore, labeling a specimen does not constitute effective publication and designation of a type cannot be achieved in this way (Turland et al. 2018: Art. 7.10). Note that Reynolds (1950: 263), without citing a collecting number for the “ I. B. Pole Evans” gathering, referred to a specimen collected by Pole Evans that “Fl. May 1914 at Union Buildings” and doubtfully regarded it as the type—he stated “(?Type)”. As we show above this plant only flowered in 191 6 and the specimen does not represent the holotype, nor original material. At any rate, if the name A. longibracteata did not have a holotype, an author must definitely accept the designation of a type for it to be effective (Turland et al. 2018: Art. 7.11). The sheet at Herb. PRE (PRE 0086205-0) dated May 1914 is thus the holotype of the name Aloe longibracteata. The other sheet at Herb. PRE (PRE 0086134-0) dated 8 June 1916 was evidently prepared from material that was collected along with the plant pressed and preserved as the type. It flowered in Pretoria two years later, and therefore after publication of the name A. longibracteata in 1915. It can therefore not be regarded as original material. A sheet of Pole Evans 56 at Herb. K, dated 1916/06/08, has a label that is identical to that of the specimen with the same date at Herb. PRE. It was accessioned at Herb. K on 2 March 1920 and contains a hand-written note in pencil: ‘Not TYPE number—probably from type plant’. We regard this assumption as correct and this specimen is a duplicate of the one at Herb. PRE (PRE 0086134-0) with the same date. Since the holotype (PRE0086205 -0) of A. longibracteata only consists of a partial infructescence and an envelope with seeds, the Herb. PRE specimen dated 8 June 1916 (PRE0086134 -0; consisting of a leaf, cross section through the leaf, and an inflorescence) is here designated as epitype, with the duplicate at Herb. K (consisting of a leaf, inflorescence, and an envelope with leaf fragments, flowers, fruit, and seed) being an isoepitype. Description:—Plants small, low-growing, solitary, rarely 1- to 2-branched from the base, rosette erect to slightly leaning, up to (10–) 15 cm tall. Stem ± absent, short, simple and thickened lower down if present, clothed in very hard, persistent, twisted, dried leaves. Leaves very densely rosulate, at first erect, then horizontally spreading, 10–15 cm long, (7–) 9–10 cm wide at base, dull light to dark green, deltoid-lanceolate, abaxially pale green, longitudinally darker green or light purplish-lined, lines very narrow, adaxially sparsely white-spotted especially towards base or immaculate, white spots ± oblong to oval, sometimes arranged in interrupted, obscure, wavy transverse bands, texture smooth; margins shiny-orange-brown to shiny-dark brown, armed with prominent, short, very pungent, deltoid, shinybrown, dark-tipped teeth, ± 5–7(–9) mm long, 3–5(–9) mm apart, variously curved towards leaf base or more rarely straight. Inflorescence usually 1–2 produced successively per season, unbranched raceme or 2- to 3(–4)-branched panicle, 0.5–0.7(–0.8) m tall, erect, often apically cat tail-like curved, branched at or below middle, branches erect at narrow angle from peduncle; peduncle rather stout, lacking sterile bracts below racemes, panicle branches subtended by prominent fertile bracts irregularly deltoid to lanceolate-triangular, ± 25–50 mm long, usually dark to light brown, drying rapidly, longitudinally dark brown lined. Racemes narrowly cylindrical, distinctly tapering upwards, 20–30 cm long, ± 4–6 cm wide where flowers are at anthesis, usually rather densely flowered; buds erect to erectly spreading, flowers pendulous at anthesis. Floral bracts prominent, narrowly lanceolate, variously twisted, ± 45–50 mm long, longer than pedicels, much narrower than fertile bracts, drying rapidly, light brown to creamy white. Pedicels (10–)15– 20(–25) mm long, yellowish green when young, becoming reddish with age. Flowers: perianth: buds uniformly shiny strawberry-pink to peach-red, prominently green-striated in apical half; open flowers ± uniformly shiny strawberrypink to peach-red in basal ½, mouth slightly paler and yellowish white inside, 40–50 mm long, ± 7–8 mm across ovary, narrowed above ovary to yield small bulbous base, distinctly enlarged towards mouth, middle ± gradually enlarging towards mouth, ± straight to down-curved to horizontally spreading; tips of segments spreading, outer segments free for ⅓–½ of their length; stamens with filiform-flattened filaments, uniformly light yellow, hardly exserted; ovary (6–)7(–8) mm long, 2–3 mm in diam., light green; style slightly exserted, uniformly light yellow; stigma tiny, very slightly capitate, yellowish. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, 30(–35) × 15(–20) mm, light green turning purplish light brown with age, dry remains of perianth variously persistent. Seed 2 × 3 mm, black, ± D-shaped, angled, with prominent white to transparent wing. Chromosome number: 2 n = 14 (Groenewald 1941: 167, Riley & Majumdar 1979: 46). Distribution:— Aloe longibracteata has a fairly restricted distribution in northeastern South Africa, mainly west of the escarpment, where it occurs from Mashishing (formerly Lydenburg) to Dullstroom in Mpumalanga Province, to Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg) and Tzaneen in Limpopo Province, South Africa (Fig. 9). It is especially common around Mashishing. Flowering time:—Mostly (June–)July–August, but some forms can flower as late as November. Additional specimens investigated:— SOUTH AFRICA. Mpumalanga: Middelburg district, Farm Hartbeeshoek west of Belfast, 10 June 1995, P . M. Burgoyne 3735 & 3754 (PRE). Between Lydenburg and Dullstroom, 26 June 2007, O . M. Grace, E. van Wyk, L. Nkuna, F. W. Mabatha 66 (K, 2 sheets). Lydenburg, 21 August 1914, I . B. Pole Evans 19 (PRE); ibidem, 22 July 1919, ibidem, I . B. Pole Evans 220 (PRE, 2 sheets); 15 August 1921, I . B. Pole Evans 239 (PRE, 2 sheets). Lydenburg, south of town, 7 August 2021, G . F. Smith 1157 (PRU); ibidem, 3 September 2021, G . F. Smith 1163 (PRU). Lydenburg, Sukukuni, Farm Avontuur, 30 June 1936, W . G. Barnard 532 (PRE). Lydenburg, Buffelsvlei, 20 July 1935, G . W. Reynolds 1466 (PRE). Northwest of Lydenburg, 20 July 1935, G . W. Reynolds 1460 (PRE, 2 sheets). North of Lydenburg, near Potloodspruit, 19 June 1937, G . W. Reynolds 2470 (K; PRE); ibidem, 2 August 1938, G . W. Reynolds 2885 (K; PRE). Martins Hoop, from Lydenburg on road to Magnet Heights, 12 July 1936, G . W. Reynolds 1961 (K; PRE). West of Hangslaagte, top of Dwarsriviersberg, 12 July 1936, G . W. Reynolds 1959 (K, 2 sheets; PRE, 2 sheets). Lydenburg, Sekukuniland, Schoonoord, west of Lulu Mountains, 12 July 1936, G . W. Reynolds 1956 (K, 2 sheets; PRE). Sekhukhuniland, Lulu Mountains, Farm Groot Vygenboom, 3 September 1936, A . O. D. Mogg 16982 (PRE). Graskop, The Bonnet area, 19 June 1990, W . S. Matthews 920 (PRE). West of Pilgrims Rest, 12 November 1952, W . Marais 16 (K; PRE). SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo: Ohrigstad Dam Nature Reserve, 6 August 1968, D. Edwards 4051 (K; PRE); ibidem, 28 August 1973, N Jacobsen 2951 (PRE). East of Ohrigstad, Brown’s Hill, 17 November 1935, G. W . Reynolds 1648 (PRE). Ohrigstad to Penge, 22 August 1973, J. P . Nel 339 (K; NBG; PRE). Lekgalameetse Nature Reserve, 2 June 1986, M . Stalmans 1312 (PRE). Strydom Tunnel towards Ohrigstad, 23 June 1971, E . Buitendag 846 (NBG; PRE). Tzaneen, Flowering in garden Division of Botany, 9 August 1915, T . Behrens 123 (PRE, 2 sheets). Tzaneen, 8 August 1935, G. W . Reynolds 1518 (K; PRE, 2 sheets); ibidem, August 1936, F. Z . van der Merwe PRE 38131 (K; PRE). East of Tzaneen, 8 August 1935, G. W . Reynolds 1517 (K; PRE). Southwest of Pietersburg, May 1935, G. W . Reynolds 1343 (PRE); ibidem, July 1939, I. C . Verdoorn & A. O. D. Mogg PRE 38133 (PRE); ibidem, 27 July 1939, I. C . Verdoorn & A. O. D. Mogg PRE 38134 (PRE); ibidem, 13 October 1947, L. E . Codd & B. de Winter 3069 (PRE). Southwest of Pietersburg on road to Potgietersrus, 30 October 1938, G. W . Reynolds 3075 (K; PRE, 3 sheets). South of Pietersburg, 6 August 1966, D. C. H . Plowes 2593 (PRE). Percy Fyfe Nature Reserve, 24 October 1969, B. J . Huntley 1490 (PRE). Chuniespoort Hotel, May 1935, A. A . Obermeyer & I. C. Verdoorn 8 A (PRE, 2 sheets). Lebowa, Arabie, 3 July 1981, W . Ellery 234 (PRE). Potgietersrus, 2 August 1927, F. Z . van der Merwe PRE7409 (PRE). North of Nylstroom, 4 August 1935, G. W . Reynolds 1496 (PRE)., Published as part of Smith, Gideon F. & Klopper, Ronell R., 2022, Reinstatement of Aloe longibracteata (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a maculate aloe from northeastern South Africa, pp. 191-203 in Phytotaxa 568 (2) on pages 198-201, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.568.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/7192899, {"references":["Pole Evans, I. B. (1915) Descriptions of some new aloes from the Transvaal [including Aloe longibracteata Pole-Evans on pp. 25 - 27]. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 5 (1): 25 - 35, + Plates V - XV. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / page / 47226163 page / 87 / mode / 1 up]","Pole Evans, I. B. (1928) Aloe longibracteata. The Flowering Plants of South Africa 8: t. 299. [https: // archive. org / details / floweringplantso 08 unse / page / n 79 / mode / 2 up]","Groenewald, B. H. (1941) Die aalwyne van Suid-Afrika, Suidwes-Afrika, Portugees Oos-Afrika, Swaziland, Basoetoeland, en ' n spesiale ondersoek van die klassifikasie, chromosome en areale van die Aloe Maculatae. Die Nasionale Pers Beperk, Bloemfontein, 172 pp.","Reynolds, G. W. (1950 [December]) The aloes of South Africa. The Trustees, The Aloes of South Africa Book Fund, Johannesburg, 520 pp.","Judd, E. (1967) What aloe is that? A Purnell Pocketbook. Southern African Series. Purnell, Cape Town & Johannesburg, 76 pp.","Jeppe, B. (1969) South African aloes. Purnell & Sons S. A. (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town, Johannesburg, London, 144 pp.","Bornman, H. & Hardy, D. [S.] (1971) Aloes of the South African veld. Voortrekkerpers, Johannesburg, 299 pp.","Jacobsen, H. (1977) Lexicon of succulent plants. Short descriptions, habitats and synonymy of succulent plants other than Cactaceae. Blandford Press Ltd, Poole, Dorset, 682 pp.","Jacobsen, H. (1986) A handbook of succulent plants. Descriptions, synonyms and cultural details for succulents other than Cactaceae. Vol. 1. Abromeitiella to Euphorbia. Blandford Press Ltd, Poole, Dorset, 464 pp.","Van Wyk, B-E. & Smith, G. F. (1996) Guide to the aloes of South Africa. 1 st edition. Briza Publications, Pretoria, 302 pp.","Smith, G. F. (2003) First field guide to aloes of southern Africa. Struik Nature, Cape Town, 57 pp.","Van Wyk, B-E. & Smith, G. F. (2003) Guide to the aloes of South Africa. 2 nd edition. Briza Publications, Pretoria, 304 pp.","Grace, O. M. (2009) Contributions to the systematics and biocultural value of Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae). Ph. D. thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 158 pp. [http: // hdl. handle. net / 2263 / 26261]","Carter, S., Lavranos, J. J., Newton, L. E. & Walker, C. C. (2011) Aloes. The definitive guide. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew / British Cactus & Succulent Society, London, 719 pp.","Grace, O. M., Klopper, R. R., Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G. F. (2011) The aloe names book. Strelitzia 29. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 232 pp. [http: // hdl. handle. net / 20.500.12143 / 270]","Van Wyk, B-E. & Smith, G. F. (2014) Guide to the aloes of South Africa. 3 rd edition. Briza Publications, Pretoria, 376 pp.","Klopper, R. R. (2015) Contributions to the systematics of the genus Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae) in southern Africa. Ph. D. thesis. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 712 pp.","Newton, L. E. (2020) Aloe. In: Eggli, U. & Nyffeler, R. (eds.) Illustrated handbook of succulent plants: Monocotyledons, Vol. 1. Springer- Verlag, Berlin, pp. 485 - 696.","Turland, N. J., Wiersema, J. H., Barrie, F. R., Greuter, W., Hawksworth, D. L., Herendeen, P. S., Knapp, S., Kusber, W. - H., Li, D. - Z., Marhold, K., May, T. W., McNeill, J., Monro, A. M., Prado, J., Price, M. J. & Smith, G. F. (2018) International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the Nineteenth International Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017. [Regnum Vegetabile 159]. Koeltz Botanical Books, Glashutten, 254 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.12705 / Code. 2018","Smith, G. F., Klopper, R. R. & Crouch, N. R. (2021 b) Aloe arborescens Mill. ' Estelle Potgieter' (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a new cultivar in a variable species, with notes on aloes at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Bradleya 39: 253 - 258. https: // doi. org / 10.25223 / brad. n 39.2021. a 27","Riley, H. P. & Majumdar, S. K. (1979) The Aloineae. A biosystematics survey. The University of Kentucky Press, place of publication not stated, likely Lexington, Kentucky, 177 pp.; some Index pages not numbered. [https: // www. jstor. org / stable / j. ctt 130 jhd 1]"]}

Bulbine natalensis, an emerging medicinal herb on the global market with androgenic properties, is often formulated in dietary supplements that promote perceived sexual enhancement. However, to date, comprehensive safety studies of B. natalensis are lacking, particularly those related to its herb-drug interaction potential. The purpose of this study was to assess the inductive and inhibitory effects of extracts and pure compounds of B. natalensis on human cytochrome P-450 isozymes in vitro. Our findings demonstrated that both water and methanolic extracts of B. natalensis as well as knipholone, bulbine-knipholone, and 6′-O-methylknipholone dose-dependently increased mRNA expression encoded by CYP2B6, CYP1A2, and ABCB1 genes. Functional analyses showed that water (60 to 2.20 µg/mL) and methanolic (30 to 3.75 µg/mL) extracts and knipholones (10 to 0.33 µM) increased CYP2B6 and CYP1A2 activity in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, water extract (60 µg/mL), methanolic extract (30 µg/mL), and knipholone (10 µM) caused activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor up to 11.1 ± 0.7, 8.9 ± 0.6, and 7.1 ± 2.0-fold, respectively. Furthermore, inhibition studies revealed that methanolic extract attenuated the activity of metabolically active CYP1A2 (IC50, 22.6 ± 0.4 µg/mL) and CYP2B6 (IC50, 34.2 ± 6.6 µg/mL) proteins, whereas water extracts had no inhibitory effect on either isoform. These findings suggest that chronic consumption of B. natalensis may affect normal homeostasis of select CYPs with subsequent risks for HDIs when concomitantly ingested with conventional medications that are substrates of CYP2B6 and CYP1A2. However, more in-depth translational studies are required to validate our current findings and their clinical relevance.

Aloe vera belongs to the family of Asphodelaceae, the oldest medicinal herb ever found and the world's most common medicinal plant. It is known as Ghritkumari, is used in medicine sources of homeopathy, ayurvedic, and allopathy. The species is a good source of repository of chemical ingredients that shows a precise range of biological activities such as wound healing, burn treatment, mitigating frost bite damage, defense against, lung cancer, intestinal problems, x-ray damage to the body, raising and decreasing high density and low lipoprotein content, reduction of diabetic blood sugar, battle against acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and strengthening of the immune system. Aloe vera leaves are used to create drinks, perfume, skin lotion, cosmetics, or ointments. The plant's key ingredients are different kinds of vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, saponins, amino acids, and salicylic acids. The plant is a good source of antioxidants. It also contains folic acid and vitamin A, C, E and B12. Aloe vera gel includes important ingredients, including the essential amino acids required by the human body. The plant can be used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. This research article is an effort towards Aloe Vera's industrial and ethnobotanical characteristics.

Dianellaensifolia is a perennial herb with thickened rhizome and is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Australia, and the Pacific islands. This plant has the potential to be used as a source of herbal medicine. This study investigated further phytochemistry and tyrosinase inhibitory effect of some constituents isolated from D. ensifolia. Four new flavans, (2S)-4’-hydroxy-6,7-dimethoxyflavan (1), (2S)-3’,4’-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-8-methylflavan (2), (2S)-2’-hydroxy-7-methoxyflavan (3), and (2S,1′S)-4-hydroxy-4-(7-methoxy-8-methylchroman-2-yl)-cyclohex-2-enone (4), together with 67 known compounds, including 10 flavans (5–14), 5 flavanones (15–19), 3 flavone (20–22), 5 chalcones (23–27), 3 chromones (28–30), 15 aromatics (31–45), 7 phenylpropanoids (46–52), one lignan (53), 7 steroids (54–60), one monoterpene (61), one diterpene (62), 4 triterpenes (63–66), a carotenoid (67), 2 alkaloids (68 and 69), and 2 fatty acids (70 and 71) were isolated from D. ensifolia. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of physical and spectroscopic data analyses. Moreover, compounds 1–4, 8, 10–15, 20, 21, and 41 were evaluated for their mushroom tyrosinase inhibitory effect. Compounds 11 and 14 strongly inhibited mushroom tyrosinase activity with IC50 values of 8.6 and 14.5 μM, respectively.

Aloe hankeyi Gideon F.Sm. & Figueiredo, sp. nov. Type: — SOUTH AFRICA. Limpopo province.—2329 (Pietersburg [Polokwane]): about 45 km east of Polokwane, (– DD), in thorn tree bushveld, collected 22 July 1999, cultivated at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden, specimen prepared 3 March 2022, G . F. Smith 1175 (holotype PRU). Diagnosis:— Aloe hankeyi has elongated-deltoid leaves that lack a keel, while those of A. cooperi, which also has elongated-deltoid leaves, are distinctly keeled. In contrast, the keel-less leaves of A. verecunda are narrowly linear and much shorter than those of both A. hankeyi and A. cooperi. The flowers of A. hankeyi are consistently dull red at anthesis so differing from the variably salmon-pink to orangey flowers of A. cooperi that are also shorter than those of A. hankeyi. In contrast, the flowers of A. verecunda vary from dull to bright red. The distal ± ⅓– 1 / 5 of the perianths of all three species is variously green-infused, often less so in A. verecunda. Aloe hankeyi further differs from A. verecunda by being considerably more robust in all respects, with plants easily reaching a height of 1 m, as opposed to the 0.20–0.25 m of A. verecunda. Description:—Large, acaulescent or short-stemmed, erect, clump-forming slender aloe. Stem ± absent or to 15– 20 cm long, usually branched from base to form clumps; dry leaves not persistent. Leaves 15–20(–22) per rosette, distichous only in young plants, spirally twisted to rosulate in older plants, erect to arch-like curved outwards, (60–) 75–80 cm long, 6–7 cm broad at base, elongated-deltoid, channelled adaxially, not keeled, cymbiform in cross section, dark green, obscurely lineate, with only few scattered spots adaxially, copiously white-spotted at base abaxially, white spots raised; margin with firm but harmless, white teeth, 1–2 mm long, becoming smaller distally, (2–) 4–5 mm apart at mid-leaf; exudate clear. Inflorescence a raceme, 0.6–0.8(–1) m tall, erect, simple; peduncle stout, sparsely sterile bracteate proximally, densely so distally; sterile bracts elongated-triangular, greenish to brownish yellow, rapidly drying light brown, obscurely many-nerved. Raceme broadly conical to ± flat-topped, 11–12 cm long, dense-flowered. Floral bracts 20–35 mm long, 5–8 mm broad at base, clasping pedicels. Pedicels 30–40 mm long. Flowers 40– 45 mm long, 10–12 mm wide across ovary, basally obscurely stipitate, abruptly narrowing into pedicel, copiously nectariferous; perianth ± straight, somewhat narrowing towards mouth, roundly trigonous, dull red for proximal ⅔, greenish in distal ⅓, inner and outer segments distinctly white-margined towards apex; outer segments free almost to base; stamens included, uniformly light yellow; filaments filiform-flattened; ovary (6–)7(–8) mm long, 2–3 mm in diam., light green; style included or exserted for ± 1 mm. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, 21–30 × 9–12 mm, light to midgreen turning light greyish brown with age, dry remains of perianth persistent for a long time. Seed 4–5 × 2–3 mm, light greyish brown to black, ± irregularly D-shaped, angled, with prominent white to transparent wing. Chromosome number: unknown. Flowering time:—February–March. Eponymy:— Aloe hankeyi is named for Mr Andrew John Hankey (Johannesburg, Gauteng province, South Africa, 12 February 1968 –) (Fig. 1H). Andrew has a longstanding interest in a wide range of succulent plants, including in Aloe, and facilitated access to material of A. hankeyi. He has worked for the South African National Biodiversity Institute for the past 28 years and currently holds a position as Specialist Horticulturalist (see also Smith 2020: 95). Key to distinguish among Aloe cooperi, A. hankeyi, and A. verecunda : 1. Leaves distinctly keeled abaxially................................................................................................................................... Aloe cooperi 1’. Leaves lacking a keel..........................................................................................................................................................................2 2. Flowers 40–45 mm long, dull red; sterile bracts densely arranged distally on peduncle................................................... A. hankeyi 2’. Flowers 26–30 mm long, dull to bright red; sterile bracts sparsely arranged distally on peduncle............................... A. verecunda, Published as part of Smith, Gideon F. & Figueiredo, Estrela, 2022, Aloe hankeyi (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae; Aloe sect. Leptoaloe), a new species from northern South Africa, pp. 122-126 in Phytotaxa 549 (1) on pages 124-125, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.549.1.12, http://zenodo.org/record/6605278, {"references":["Smith, G. F. (2020) Kalanchoe × hankeyi [= K. longiflora × K. sexangularis] (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae), a new nothospecies from South Africa. Phytotaxa 451 (1): 93 - 96. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / phytotaxa. 451.1.9"]}

Smith, Gideon F., Figueiredo, Estrela (2022): Aloe hankeyi (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae; Aloe sect. Leptoaloe), a new species from northern South Africa. Phytotaxa 549 (1): 122-126, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.549.1.12

This study was set to investigate the comparative morphological and anatomical characteristics of Aloe vera barbadensis Miller and Aloe vera var. chinensis(Haw) Berger. These are evergreen perennials belonging to Asphodelaceae Juss. in the Order Asparagales Link. The former measures up to 80±20cm in height with lanceolate leaves and rosette habit. The leaves have spiny margins decorated with whitish spots on both foliar surfaces which disappear at maturity. The tubular flowers are orange and densely clustered at the stem apex; corolla is yellowish, tubular and up to 2.5±0.5cm in length whereas the latter is 40±10cm in height with rather lightly green rosette leaves and foliar white spots on foliar surfaces maintained at maturity. The two plants are fleshy and succulent with mild bitter taste. Leaves are amphistomatic with tetracytic sunken stomata. The cells of the epidermal layer are nucleated mostly hexagonal and includepentagonal, heptagonal to square or rounded. Stomatal indices for Aloe vera barbadensis adaxial foliar layer is 7.92 % and abaxial 4.76% while Aloe vera var. chinensis adaxial surface is 7.92% and abaxial 3.85%, not significant. Anatomical studies revealed the cell types from the epidermis, hypodermis, general cortex to the pith are similar in mid-ribs, petioles, stems and nodes. The roots have piths and vasculation is closed type. Phytochemical studies showed the presence of Alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins and tannins in both species, whereas combined anthraquinone was observed absent in both plants. Cardenolide, phlobatannins and free anthraquinones were present in Aloe vera var. chinesis but absent in Aloe vera barbadensis while cyanogenic glycoside was absent in Aloe vera var chinensis but present in Aloe vera barbadensis. The species are used in natural medicine. The information contained in this research would further aid in the taxonomic delimitations of these plants. Keywords: Comparative, Aloe vera, phytochemistry, morphology, anatomy, Asphodelaceae.

Assessment of plant species in particular rare and endemic is essential for monitoring and conservation planning. I aimed to support conservation activities by addressing knowledge of the status of Aloe dhufarensis Lavranos, one of the endemic plants in the Arabian Peninsula. Information on the status and distribution range of A. dhufarensis in the Arabian Peninsula is almost absent. To Assess A. dhufarensis according to IUCN categories, Extent of Occurrence (EOO) and Area of Occupancy (AOO) were created and measured using ArcMap 10.8. The species is described and illustrated; the distribution of the species was mapped. The evaluation and the conservation status of this plant species are reported according to the context of IUCN Red List guidelines and criteria.

Following the reinstatement of Aloe davyana Schönland (1905: 288) (Fig. 1A) as an accepted taxon at the rank of species, rather than at that of variety under A. greatheadii Schönland (1904: 121) (Smith et al. 2020), we here reinstate A. davyana var. subolifera Groenewald (1939: t. 732). Aloe davyana var. subolifera was accepted by all aloe researchers until it was placed in the synonymy of a broadened concept of A. greatheadii var. davyana (Schönl.) Glen & Hardy (1987: 490), a view with which we do not agree.

An endangered and rare species Aloe pseudorubroviolacea from the plant family Asphodelaceae which is presently recorded as endangered in Saudi Arabia collected from Al-Baha region of Saudi Arabia its GPS Latitude and Longitude coordinates 19.8345, 41.5481. The chloroplast matK and rbcL gene was considered in this study based on molecular identification the size is about 571 and 664 bp respectively. From the sequence analysis the gene matK and rbcL confirm that this species is very much closely related with A. rubroviolacea and also inter related with the species Astroloba rubriflora, Chrysopogon gryllus, Chortolirion angolense shows about 98.7% sequence homology. The partial matK and rbcL gene sequence discriminate Aloe pseudorubroviolacea from the closely related plant species, A. rubroviolacea. The gene sequence of rbcL discriminates the species from Chrysopogon gryllus and Chortolirion angolense, demonstrates the nucleotide variations in 3 different sites (623C/T; 653C/T; 700C/A). This study showed that matK and rbcL sequence region of chloroplast gene used to authenticate the samples of A. pseudorubroviolacea and which provide to help in correct identification and conservation process of this medicinally valuable endangered plant species.

Aloe davyana (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a winter-flowering aloe that is endemic to the north-central interior of South Africa, is reinstated at the rank of species based on plant size, clumping habit, leaf colour and ornamentation, inflorescence architecture, and several flower characters. In the past it was sometimes treated as A. greatheadii var. davyana.

International audience; For thousands of years, the unique physicochemical properties of plant exudates have defined uses in material culture and practical applications. Native Australian plant exudates, including resins, kinos, and gums, have been used and continue to be used by Aboriginal Australians for numerous technical and cultural purposes. A historic collection of well-preserved native Australian plant exudates, assembled a century ago by plant naturalists, gives a rare window into the history and chemical composition of these materials. Here we report the full hierarchical characterization of four genera from this collection, Xanthorrhoea, Callitris, Eucalyptus, and Acacia, from the local elemental speciation, to functional groups and main molecular markers. We use high-resolution X-ray Raman spectroscopy (XRS) to achieve bulk-sensitive chemical speciation of these plant exudates, including insoluble, amorphous, and cross-linked fractions, without the limitation of invasive and/or surface specific methods. Combinatorial testing of the XRS data allows direct classification of these complex natural species as terpenoid, aromatic, phenolic, and polysaccharide materials. Differences in intragenera chemistry was evidenced by detailed interpretation of the XRS spectral features. We comple- ment XRS with Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, gas chromatography– mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and pyrolysis–GC-MS (Py-GC-MS). This multimodal approach provides a fundamental understanding of the chemistry of these natural materials long used by Aboriginal Australian peoples.

Aerangis luteoalba (Kraenzl.) Schltr. var. rhodosticta (Kraenzl.) J.Stewart — Habit: Herb. Habitat: LMWF; up to 2 400 m. Distribution: II. Voucher: East Mount Kenya Forest, Alt. 1 524–1 829 m, Battiscombe K692 (EA, K). References: Blundell (1987), Cribb (1989b), Stewart & Campbell (2003), Agnew (2013)., Published as part of Zhou, Ya-Dong, Mwachala, Geoffrey, Hu, Guang-Wan & Wang, Qing-Feng, 2022, Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Mount Kenya, East Africa, pp. 1-108 in Phytotaxa 546 (1) on page 25, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.546.1.1

Trachyandra saltii (Baker) Oberm. — Habit: Herb. Habitat: LMDF; up to 2 200 m. Distribution: II. Voucher: Naro Moru Road, near Forest Station, 3 Dec. 1966, Agnew 8911 (EA). Reference: N/A., Published as part of Zhou, Ya-Dong, Mwachala, Geoffrey, Hu, Guang-Wan & Wang, Qing-Feng, 2022, Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Mount Kenya, East Africa, pp. 1-108 in Phytotaxa 546 (1) on page 28, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.546.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6550464

Kniphofia thomsonii Baker — Habit: Herb. Habitat: LMDF, BZ, UMF, HZ, AZ; 2 000–4 000 m. Distribution: II. Voucher: Chogoria Track, Alt. 3 251 m, 20 Jul. 2014, CPG 28488 (HIB, PE). References: Young & Peacock (1985), Bussmann (1993, 1994), Bussmann & Beck (1995a, 1998, 1999), Agnew (2013)., Published as part of Zhou, Ya-Dong, Mwachala, Geoffrey, Hu, Guang-Wan & Wang, Qing-Feng, 2022, Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Mount Kenya, East Africa, pp. 1-108 in Phytotaxa 546 (1) on page 28, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.546.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6550464, {"references":["Young, T. P. & Peacock, M. M. (1985) Vegetative key to the alpine vascular plants of Mount Kenya. Journal of the East Africa National History Society & National Museum 75 (185): 1 - 9. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1365 - 2028.2004.00514. x","Bussmann, R. W. (1993) The forest of Mt. Kenya (Kenya): A phytosociological approach with special reference to ecological problems. Ph. D. Thesis, Eberhard Karls Universitat Tubingen, Tubingen, 119 pp.","Bussmann, R. W. (1994) The forest of Mt. Kenya (Kenya): Vegetation, ecology, destruction and management of a tropical mountain forest ecosystem. Ph. D. dissertation, Universitat Bayreuth Startseite, Bayreuth, 252 pp.","Bussmann, R. W. & Beck, E. (1995 a) The forests of Mt. Kenya (Kenya), a phytosociological synopsis. Phytocoenologia 25 (4): 467 - 560. https: // doi. org / 10.1127 / phyto / 25 / 1995 / 467","Bussmann, R. W. & Beck, E. (1998) The plant communities of the forests of Mount Kenya - First phytosociological and ecological data. In: Ojany, F. F. (Ed.) African mountains and highlands - planning for sustainable use of mountain resources. United Nations University, Tokyo, pp. 96 - 107.","Bussmann, R. W. & Beck, E. (1999) Vegetation units of Mt. Kenya Forest Reserve: Comment. In: Bitok (Ed.) Vegetations-okologosche, ethnobotanische und faunistische Beitrage uber Aquatorial-Afrika. Bayreuther Forum Okologie 64. Bayreuther Forum Okologie, Bayreuth, pp. 17 - 28.","Agnew, A. D. Q. (2013) Upland Kenya wild flowers and ferns, 3 rd edn. Nature Kenya Publications, Nairobi, 733 pp."]}

Bulbine abyssinica A.Rich. — Habit: Herb. Habitat: LMDF; up to 2 800 m. Distribution: II. Voucher: Naro Moru River Lodge, Alt. 2000 m, 23 Jan. 1970, Bjornstad 264 (EA). References: Bussmann (1994), Agnew (2013)., Published as part of Zhou, Ya-Dong, Mwachala, Geoffrey, Hu, Guang-Wan & Wang, Qing-Feng, 2022, Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Mount Kenya, East Africa, pp. 1-108 in Phytotaxa 546 (1) on page 28, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.546.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6550464, {"references":["Bussmann, R. W. (1994) The forest of Mt. Kenya (Kenya): Vegetation, ecology, destruction and management of a tropical mountain forest ecosystem. Ph. D. dissertation, Universitat Bayreuth Startseite, Bayreuth, 252 pp.","Agnew, A. D. Q. (2013) Upland Kenya wild flowers and ferns, 3 rd edn. Nature Kenya Publications, Nairobi, 733 pp."]}

Aloe marlothii Berger (1905: 87) (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae) (Fig. 1), a single-stemmed, tree-like aloe, occurs widespread in northeastern South Africa and adjacent parts of Botswana, for example near Lobatse in the southeast of the country from where it was originally described (Fig. 2), Zimbabwe, and Mozambique (see maps in Klopper & Smith 2010: 92, Fig. 32 and Van Wyk & Smith 2014: 68). Wherever A. marlothii co-occurs with other species of Aloe Linnaeus (1753: 319), hybrids are produced (Reynolds 1950, Smith & Figueiredo 2015). Aloe globuligemma Pole-Evans (1915: 30, Plates X [Figs 1 and 2] and XI [Figs 1, 2, and 3]) (Fig. 3), a stemless, medium-sized aloe, is restricted to the more subtropical parts of northeastern South Africa, southern Zimbabwe, and Mozambique (see map in Van Wyk & Smith 2014: 158). Where these two species, A. globuligemma and A. marlothii, co-occur, for example at Lebowakgomo, about 50 km southeast of Polokwane, the capital of South Africa’s Limpopo province, a bewildering range of striking hybrids with considerable horticultural potential are found (Reynolds 1950: 446, 484, Retief 2018). This hybrid also occurs a bit further south of the Lebowakgomo location, as well as elsewhere in the Limpopo province, in Sekhukhuneland in the vicinity of Steelpoort and Ohrigstad.

Walker et al. (2019: 12) suggested that the name Aloe zeyheri (Barber 1870a: 80) (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae) was merely proposed and not validly published for the species of tree aloe today known as Aloidendron barberae (Dyer 1874a: 566) Klopper & Gideon F. Sm. in Grace et al. (2013: 9) (Fig. 1A–C). Aloidendron barberae occurs naturally along the eastern seaboard of South Africa, and slightly inland, and caused quite a stir in botanical circles when it was first and more or less simultaneously collected in South Africa’s Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

Aloe arborescens Miller (1768: no. 3 on first page headed “ALO ALO”) (Fig. 1A) is a parent of some intergeneric alooid hybrids, as well as of interspecific hybrids in Aloe Linnaeus (1753: 319), that have become popular in domestic and even industrial-scale horticulture [see for example Smith & Figueiredo 2015: 20, and Figueiredo & Smith 2019 on A. ×caesia Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck (1817: 29)]. Numerous forms of A. arborescens have additionally been provided with cultivar names (Van Jaarsveld 2002, Smith et al. 2021). Where A. arborescens and A. hardyi Glen (1987: plate 1942) (Figs 1B, C) are grown together, these two species hybridise with great ease and offspring of this hybrid are increasingly found in cultivation. However, to date the hybrid with the formula A. arborescens × A. hardyi does not have a name to enable easy communication about it. We here describe this increasingly common horticultural hybrid as A. ×engelbrechtii Gideon F.Sm. & Figueiredo (Figs 2A, B).

Two new species of Aloe were found in the eastern rainforest of Madagascar during a Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre (KMCC) Team expedition in November 2014. The first species, Aloe vatovavensis is rare in this habitat. The second, Aloe rakotonasoloi, exhibits characters that are intermediate between the features of Aloe s.str. and the related genus Lomatophyllum (now Aloe sect. Lomatophyllum). Despite being one of the most species-rich areas for plant diversity, only a few species of Aloe—typically those of Aloe sect. Lomatophyllum—have been recorded in the eastern rainforest of Madagascar to-date.

The KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa has a varied topography, geology and climate and presents diverse habitats that support a rich and diverse flora. Aloes are well represented in KwaZulu-Natal, with four genera [Aloe L., Aloiampelos Klopper & Gideon F.Sm., Aloidendron (A.Berger) Klopper & Gideon F.Sm. and Aristaloe Boatwr. & J.C.Manning] and 49 taxa occurring in the province. Fourteen of these are endemic and eleven near-endemic to the province. A floristic treatment of the aloes of KwaZulu-Natal is presented in the form of a synoptic review. Included are an identification key to the aloes that occur naturally in the province, species-level distribution maps and accompanying images, so providing for the first time, an atlas of aloe occurrence in this part of the subcontinent.

Context Persimmon tannin (extract of Diospyros kaki L.f [Ebenaceae]) and Aloe gel (extract of Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f. [Asphodelaceae]) are known as anti-radiation agents. However, radiation resistance of the persimmon tannin-Aloe gel composite remains inconclusive. Objective To investigate the capacity of the persimmon tannin-Aloe gel composite to protect against ionising radiation at the cellular level. Materials and methods HaCaT (human epidermal keratinocytes) cells were pre-treated with PT-A-1 (the mass ratio of persimmon tannin and Aloe gel was 2:1) or the single component (persimmon tannin or Aloe gel) at various concentrations (0, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 μg/mL. Control group: medium with no HaCaT cells), and then radiated with X-rays (radiation dose: 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 Gy). Cell viability, cell apoptosis, and radiation-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were analysed by CCK-8, Hoechst 33258 staining/flow cytometry, and 2′,7′-dichlorfluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) assay, respectively, for 12 or 24 h incubation after radiation. Results The optimal radiation dose and post-radiation incubation period were determined to be 8 Gy and 12 h. CCK-8 activity detection showed that the cell activity was 77.85% (p

Smith, Gideon F. (2022): Aloe davyana var. magdae (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a distinctive new variety from central-northeastern South Africa. Phytotaxa 536 (3): 261-269, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.536.3.6

Aloe davyana Sch��nland (1905: 288) var. magdae Gideon F.Sm., var. nov. Type: ��� SOUTH AFRICA. Free State province.���2627 (Potchefstroom): near the Vaal River Barrage, close to the R59 road, about 20 km west-northwest of Sasolburg, open, rocky grassland, (���DC), 28 August 2021, G.F. Smith 1160 (PRU, holotype). Diagnosis:��� Aloe davyana var. magdae differs from A. davyana var. davyana and A. davyana var. subolifera by generally developing larger rosettes consisting of about twice as many leaves, and by having flowers that are bright orange-red to bright red, not pale flesh pink to brick red, as in A. davyana var. davyana, or nearly white as in A. davyana var. subolifera. The inflorescences of A. davyana var. magdae are more cylindrical than those of A. davyana var. davyana and A. davyana var. subolifera that both have more broadly conical inflorescences. Geographically A. davyana var. magdae occurs to the south of the distribution range of the autonymic variety. Aloe davyana var. magdae differs from the northerly, nearly white-flowered A. davyana var. subolifera by not forming large, multi-rosette clumps. Description:���Plants small, low-growing, solitary or suckering to form groups of 2���4, rosettes often turned sideways, up to 160(���180) mm tall. Stem �� absent to very short, thickened lower down if present, clothed in persistent, twisted, dried leaves. Leaves very densely rosulate, at first erect, then horizontally spreading, 50���150 mm long, 50���70 mm wide at base, mid-green, usually purplish-infused, smooth textured, deltoid-lanceolate, adaxially white-spotted, white spots �� oblong to H-shaped, sometimes arranged in interrupted, wavy transverse bands; abaxially pale milky green, green-dotted, longitudinally darker green-lined, lines narrow, not confluent, exudate clear, drying purplish; margins shiny-orange-brown to shiny-dark brown or shiny-concolorous, armed with prominent, short, very pungent, deltoid, shiny-brown, yellowish-tipped teeth, �� 4���6 mm long, 4���5(���8) mm apart, straight variously or more rarely curved towards leaf base. Inflorescence 1 to 3 per rosette, simultaneous or consecutively, some often destroyed by frost, 0.7���1.0 m tall, erect, 3- to 7-branched from below middle, branches ascending at narrow angle from peduncle; peduncle rather stout, lacking sterile bracts below racemes, panicle branches subtended by prominent fertile bracts of �� 30���50 mm long, drying rapidly, dull light brown to creamy white, irregularly deltoid to lanceolate-triangular, indistinctly longitudinally dark brown lined. Racemes �� cylindrical, erect, somewhat tapering upwards, equally densely flowered above and below, (90���) 150���200 mm long, 70���80 mm wide where flowers are at anthesis, usually rather densely flowered; buds erect to erectly spreading, flowers nodding or pendulous at anthesis. Floral bracts �� 15���25 mm long, conspicuous, �� as long as pedicels, drying rapidly, light brown to creamy white, narrowly lanceolate, variously twisted, much narrower than fertile bracts. Pedicels 20���25 mm long, orange to reddish orange when young, remaining so with age. Flowers: perianth: buds bright orange-red to bright red, dark-tipped; open flowers bright orange-red to bright red, alternately whitish and darker striped in apical ��, 32���35 mm long, 5 mm across ovary, narrowed above ovary to yield small subglobose bulbous base, distinctly enlarged towards mouth, apical half ventricose below, tips of segments very slightly flared, outer segments free for �� of their length; tips slightly spreading; stamens with filiformflattened filaments, uniformly light yellowish white, exserted for up to 2���4(���6) mm; ovary 7���8 mm long, 2���3 mm in diam., light green; style well-exserted, uniformly light yellow; stigma tiny, very slightly capitate, yellowish. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, 25���30 �� 12���15 mm, dull mid-green to purplish green, dry remains of perigone soon shed. Seed not seen. Chromosome number: unknown. Distribution:��� Aloe davyana var. magdae has a more southerly distribution range than A. davyana var. davyana. It occurs from south of Johannesburg in the vicinity of Ennerdale, Walkerville, Sebokeng, and Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng, and southward to Parys and Heilbron in the Free State, on both sides of the north-south running N1 highway. Reynolds (1950: 235) was aware of A. davyana var. magdae and referred to it as: ���Forms near Parys and towards Heilbron (southern limit [of A. davyana])���. Habitat:��� Aloe davyana var. magdae occurs in scattered colonies in grassveld dotted with clumps of shrubs and trees. Eponymy:��� Aloe davyana var. magdae is named for Magda Nel (born Makopane [Potgietersrus], Limpopo province, South Africa, 5 November 1957 ���) (Fig. 7). Magda holds a National Diploma for Research Technicians: Agriculture and Botany, which she was awarded in 1979 by the Tshwane University of Technology [at the time the Technikon Pretoria]. Since 1991 she is employed as herbarium assistant in the H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Her responsibilities include maintenance of the nearly 130,000 preserved plant specimens, capturing data from specimen labels, assisting mainstream plant science students, and handling many plant identification requests from students and the public. Magda previously held appointments at the Roodeplaat Research Station, Pretoria (1980), at the Citrus & Subtropical Fruit Research Station (now under the Agricultural Research Council) (1981���1987), and, through the then Transvaal Museum, at the Desert Ecological Research Unit at Gobabeb on the edge of the Namib Desert in Namibia (1987���1990). She is also an accomplished graphic and digital artist. Magda has a longstanding interest in aloes after she was exposed to growing these plants at a young age by her father and her uncle, Oom At Koeleman (see Smith 1996 and Smith & Figueiredo 2015: v [page unnumbered], 17)., Published as part of Smith, Gideon F., 2022, Aloe davyana var. magdae (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a distinctive new variety from central-northeastern South Africa, pp. 261-269 in Phytotaxa 536 (3) on pages 266-268, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.536.3.6, http://zenodo.org/record/6331900, {"references":["Schonland, S. (1905) On some South African species of Aloe with special reference to those represented in the Herbarium of the Albany Museum. II. Records of the Albany Museum 1: 282 - 295. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / item / 31254 page / 308 / mode / 1 up]","Reynolds, G. W. (1950) The aloes of South Africa. The Aloes of South Africa Book Fund, Johannesburg, 534 pp.","Smith, G. F. (1996) Arthur Koeleman (1915 - 1994). Bothalia 26 (1): 77 - 80. https: // doi. org / 10.4102 / abc. v 26 i 1.693","Smith, G. F. & Figueiredo, E. (2015) Garden aloes. Growing and breeding cultivars and hybrids. Jacana Media (Pty), Ltd, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, xiv, 193 pp."]}

Key to distinguish among the three varieties recognised in Aloe davyana : 1. Leaves 12���14; racemes broadly conical; flowers pale flesh-pink to dull brick-red to pinkish to white............................................2 1��� Leaves up to 30; racemes �� cylindrical; flowers bright orange to bright red............................................ Aloe davyana var. magdae 2. Rosettes solitary or suckering to form groups of 2���4; flowers 32���35 mm long, pale flesh-pink to dull brick-red.................................................................................................................................................................................................... A. davyana var. davyana 2���. Rosettes solitary or suckering to form groups of up to 20; flowers 22���30 mm long, pale flesh-pink to light pink to almost white....................................................................................................................................................................... A. davyana var. subolifera, Published as part of Smith, Gideon F., 2022, Aloe davyana var. magdae (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a distinctive new variety from central-northeastern South Africa, pp. 261-269 in Phytotaxa 536 (3) on page 266, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.536.3.6, http://zenodo.org/record/6331900

Trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis are among the major neglected diseases that affect poor people, mainly in developing countries. In Ethiopia, the latex of Aloe rugosifolia Gilbert & Sebsebe is traditionally used for the treatment of protozoal diseases, among others. In this study, the in vitro antitrypanosomal activity of the leaf latex of A. rugosifolia was evaluated against Trypanosoma congolense field isolate using in vitro motility and in vivo infectivity tests. The latex was also tested against the promastigotes of Leishmania aethiopica and L. donovani clinical isolates using alamar blue assay. Preparative thin-layer chromatography of the latex afforded a naphthalene derivative identified as plicataloside (2,8-O,O-di-(β-D-glucopyranosyl)-1,2,8-trihydroxy-3-methyl-naphthalene) by means of spectroscopic techniques (HRESI-MS, 1H, 13C-NMR). Results of the study demonstrated that at 4.0 mg/mL concentration plicataloside arrested mobility of trypanosomes within 30 min of incubation period. Furthermore, plicataloside completely eliminated subsequent infectivity in mice for 30 days at concentrations of 4.0 and 2.0 mg/mL. Plicataloside also displayed antileishmanial activity against the promastigotes of L. aethopica and L. donovani with IC50 values 14.22 ± 0.41 µg/mL (27.66 ± 0.80 µM) and 18.86 ± 0.03 µg/mL (36.69 ± 0.06 µM), respectively. Thus, plicataloside may be used as a scaffold for the development of novel drugs effective against trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Bulbine natalensis and Chorophytum comosum are potential medicinal source for the treatment of cancers. Chronic myeloid leukaemia is a hematopoietic stem cells disorder treated by tyrosine kinase inhibitors but often cause recurrence of the leukaemia after cessation of therapy, hence require alternative treatment. This study determines the anti-cancer effect of leaf, root and bulb methanolic and aqueous extracts of B. natalensis and C. comosum in chronic human myelogenous leukaemia (K562) cell line by MTT, Hoechst bis-benzimide nuclear and annexin V stain assays. The root methanolic extract of B. natalensis and C. comosum showed a high cytotoxicity of 8.6% and 16.7% respectively on the K562 cell line at 1,000 μg/ml concentration. Morphological loss of cell membrane integrity causing degradation of the cell and fragmentation were observed in the root methanolic extract of both plants. A high apoptosis (p < 0.0001) was induced in the K562 cells by both leaf and root extracts of the C. comosum compared to the B. natalensis. This study shows both plants possess apoptotic effect against in vitro myelogenous leukaemia which contributes to the overall anti-cancer properties of B. natalensis and C. comosum to justify future therapeutic applications against chronic myelogenous leukaemia blood cancer. Resumo Bulbine natalensis Baker e Chorophytum comosum (Thunb.) Jacques são potenciais fontes medicinais para o tratamento de cânceres. A Leucemia Mieloide Crônica (LMC) é um distúrbio das células-tronco hematopoiéticas que é tratado com inibidores da tirosina quinase, mas frequentemente, causa recorrência da leucemia após a interrupção da terapia, portanto, requer um tratamento alternativo. Este estudo determinou o efeito anticancerígeno de extratos metanólicos e aquosos de folha, raiz e bulbo de B. natalensis e C. comosum na linhagem celular de leucemia mieloide humana crônica (K562) por ensaios de MTT, Hoechst bis-benzimida nuclear e anexina V. O extrato metanólico da raiz de B. natalensis e C. comosum apresentou alta citotoxidade de 8,6% e 16,7% respectivamente, na linhagem celular K562 com a concentração de 1,000 μg / ml. Perda morfológica da integridade da membrana celular causando degradação dos núcleos, citoplasma e encolhimento celular foi observada no extrato metanólico da raiz de ambas as plantas. Uma alta apoptose (p

Aloe uigensis Gideon F.Sm. & T.Lautenschl., sp. nov. (Figs 1 and 2E). Type:— ANGOLA. Uíge Province —07014 (Ambuila): municipality of Ambuila, near the village of Pambu (–DA), on limestone rocks, 23 November 2015, Thea Lautenschläger TL2015 _11_63 (holotype DR DR 067649 [available online at https://www.jacq.org/detail. php? ID =1743069], isotype B B101154436 [available online at http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/ B101154436]). Diagnosis:— Aloe uigensis does not appear to have obvious close relatives in Angola. Plants of this species differ from other Angolan aloes by being tall-growing, single-stemmed, and bearing narrowly elongated, acuminate racemes. Although A. andongensis Baker (1878: 263) and A. varimaculata McCoy (2016: 279) also bear somewhat narrowly elongated, acuminate racemes, both species are shrubby rather than single-stemmed, smaller-growing than A. uigensis, and both occur much further south in Angola. Furthermore, A. andongensis has branched racemes, while those of A. uigensis are unbranched. In contrast, the widespread, single-stemmed A. littoralis Baker (1878: 263) has broad, boat-shaped leaves, very large, robust rosettes perched at the top of sturdy stems, and plants bear multi-branched panicles, unlike A. uigensis that is a more dainty plant, has narrower leaves, and bears unbranched racemes. Description:—Perennial, medium-sized, herbaceous, single-stemmed succulent, ± 1 m tall when not in flower. Roots terete, cylindrical. Stem 0.6 m long, erect to variously leaning, ± 20–35 mm in diam. Leaves to 45 cm long, 5 cm broad at base, bright verdant green, concolorous, adaxially unspotted, abaxially irregularly white-spotted mainly in the apical half, crowded towards stem apex, persistent for a long time, narrowly attenuate, basally sheathing, erect to spreading when young, becoming decurved with age; margins with short, sharp teeth, straight or curved towards leaf tips or leaf base; teeth 2–3 mm long, ± evenly spaced, ivory-coloured with very tip reddish brown, gradually decreasing in size towards apex; leaf exudate yellowish when fresh and dry. Inflorescence an unbranched, laxly-flowered raceme, 0.55 m long, narrowly elongated, acuminate; a rosette producing a single raceme. Peduncle basally plano-convex in crosssection, round in cross-section above, 0.34 m long, 10 mm broad at base, greyish brown, covered in a powdery bloom, sparsely sterile bracteate; sterile bracts 15–20 mm long, 10–15 mm broad at base, creamy brown, with ± 11 orangebrown nerves, tapering to blunt, harmless tip. Raceme laxly flowered with ± 30 flowers, flowering portion 0.19 m long, up to 70 mm in diam. at level of open flowers; buds erect to spreading, lowest open flowers pendent. Floral bracts creamy brown, papery, amplexicaul around pedicel, apices attenuate, with 10–15 orange-brown nerves, 13–15 mm long. Pedicels light green, 12–14 mm long when flowers open, remaining the same length in fruit. Flowers self-sterile, 20–25 mm long, 6–7 mm in diam. at ovary, orange to pale reddish, tip extremity yellowish, unscented, nectariferous, pencil-shaped, cylindric-trigonous, tips slightly spreading to slightly recurved, very slightly widest in middle, not indented above ovary, slightly narrowing towards mouth, erect post-anthesis; perianth segments in two whorls, outer segments free for ± 20 mm; buds same colour as open flowers but strongly green-tipped, exserted beyond bracts; stamens with white, filiform-flattened filaments, exserted to 5 mm; ovary 6.0 × 2.5 mm, light green; style exserted to 1 mm. Fruit and Seed not seen. Chromosome number: unknown. Etymology:— Aloe uigensis is named for the province of Uíge in northern Angola, from where the type specimen was collected. Geographical distribution range and habitat:— At present A. uigensis is known only from the type locality in the municipality of Ambuila, near the village of Pambu in northwestern Angola, where plants grow in crevices in rocks on limestone inselbergs (Fig. 2). The area is part of the Regional Transition Zone between the Guineo-Congolian and the Zambezian Regions (White 1983: 170). Species that grow in association with A. uigensis include Obetia carruthersiana (Hiern 1900: 987) Rendle (1917: 245) [Urticaceae], Euphorbia conspicua Brown (1912: 600) [Euphorbiaceae] (but see Figueiredo & Smith 2018, 2020 on the nomenclature of E. conspicua), and Cussonia angolensis (Seemann 1865: 34) Hiern (1877: 32) [Araliaceae]. Discussion:—As far as we are aware, of the Aloe species recently described from Angola, i.e., following the publication of Klopper et al. (2008, 2009, 2010), only one, A. mocamedensis Van Jaarsveld (2012: 173), is generally single-stemmed, but this is a desert species that is endemic to southwestern Angola and its stem is often creeping. In contrast, A. uigensis is from a more mesic environment in northwestern Angola and it grows erect. Aloe andongensis and A. varimaculata, both also from further south in Angola, are smaller-growing, shrubby species. Geographically, the very widespread and unbranched A. littoralis, which can reach a height of 2(–4) m, has been recorded from the provinces of Luanda, Bengo, and Cuanza Norte (Reynolds 1966: 319). Bengo and Cuanza Norte abut Uíge in the south, with, as far as is known, A. littoralis therefore being the aloe that occurs closest to the type locality of A. uigensis. However, A. littoralis has broad, boat-shaped leaves, very large, robust rosettes perched at the top of sturdy stems, and plants bear multi-branched panicles, unlike A. uigensis that is a more dainty plant, has narrower leaves, and bears unbranched inflorescences. As far as is known, aloe expert Gilbert W. Reynolds, who visited Angola in June and July 1959 and described six new species from the country (Klopper et al. 2009: 21), did not collect in Uíge province (Reynolds 1960)., Published as part of Smith, Gideon F. & Lautenschläger, Thea, 2021, Aloe uigensis (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a new species from northwestern Angola, pp. 227-231 in Phytotaxa 521 (3) on pages 228-230, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.521.3.8, http://zenodo.org/record/5540524, {"references":["Baker, J. G. (1878 [January]) Report of Liliaceae, Iridaceae, Hypoxidaceae, and Haemodoraceae of Welwitsch's Angolan Herbarium. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. Botany 1 (5): 245 - 273, Plates XXXIV - XXXVI. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1095 - 8339.1878. tb 00040. x","McCoy, T. [A.]. (2016) A new species of Aloe from the Republic of Angola [Aloe varimaculata T. A. McCoy]. Cactus and Succulent Journal (U. S.) 88 (6): 277 - 280. https: // doi. org / 10.2985 / 015.088.0603","White, F. (1983) The vegetation of Africa: a descriptive memoir to accompany the UNESCO / AETFAT / UNSO vegetation map of Africa. Natural Resources Research 20. UNESCO, Paris, 356 pp.","Hiern, W. P. (1900) Catalogue of the African plants collected by Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch in 1853 - 61. Vol. I. Dicotyledons, Part IV. Lentibulariaceae to Ceratophylleae. [CXVI. Urticaceae. 2. Urticastrum Heist.; Fabric. Enum. Hort. Helmst. p. 204 (1759)]. Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum, London, pp. 987 - 988. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / page / 11447105 page / 209 / mode / 1 up]","Rendle, A. B. (1917) Urticaceae. 2. Obetia, Gaud.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 382. In: Prain, D. (ed.) Flora of Tropical Africa [Ulmaceae to Cycadacae] VI (sect. 2). Lovell Reeve & Co., Limited, London, pp. 244 - 245. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / page / 378259 page / 259 / mode / 1 up]","Brown, N. E. (1912 [October 1911 - March 1912]) 4. Euphorbia, Linn. In: W. T. Thiselton-Dyer (ed.) Flora of Tropical Africa. Nyctagineae to Euphorbiaceae, Vol. 6 (1). Lovell Reeve & Co., Limited, London, pp. 470 - 603. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / item / 129 page / 486 / mode / 1 up]","Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G. F. (2018) (64 - 65) Requests for binding decisions on the descriptive statements associated with Euphorbia candelabrum Welw. (1855) and E. candelabrum Welw. (1856) (Euphorbiaceae). Taxon 67 (2): 457 - 458. https: // doi. org / 10.12705 / 672.29","Seemann, B. (1865 [1 February]) Welwitschii iter angolense. (Continued from Vol. II. p. 339.) II. Hederaceae novae a cl. Dr. Welwitsch in Africa aequinoctiali occidentali lectae, auctore Dr. B. Seemann. The Journal of Botany, British and Foreign III: 33 - 34, + Tab. 26 opposite p. 33. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / item / 54457 page / 39 / mode / 1 up]","Hiern, W. P. (1877) LXIX. Araliaceae. 3. Cussonia, Thunb.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. i. 944. In: Oliver, D. (Ed.) [assisted by other botanists], Flora of Tropical Africa [Umbelliferae to Ebenaceae], Vol. III. L. Reeve & Co., Ashford, pp. 31 - 33. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / item / 60249 page / 43 / mode / 1 up]","Klopper, R. R., Smith, G. F. & Matos, S. (2008) Asphodelaceae. Aloe L. In: Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G. F. (Eds.) Plants of Angola / Plantas de Angola. Strelitzia 22. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, pp. 174 - 175.","Klopper, R. R., Matos, S., Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G. F. (2009) Aloe in Angola (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae). Bothalia 39: 19 - 35.","Klopper, R. R., Matos, S., Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G. F. (2010) A preliminary checklist for the aloes of Angola. In: van der Burgt, X., van der Maesen, J. & Onana, J. - M. (eds.) Systematics and conservation of African plants. Proceedings of the XVIIIth triannual Congress of the AETFAT, Yaounde, Cameroon. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, pp. 37 - 41.","Van Jaarsveld, E. J. (2012) Aloe mocamedensis, a new species from the Namib Desert, southwestern Angola. Bradleya 30: 173 - 178. https: // doi. org / 10.25223 / brad. n 30.2012. a 21","Reynolds, G. W. (1966) The aloes of tropical Africa and Madagascar. The Trustees, The Aloes Book Fund, Mbabane, 537 pp.","Barbosa, L. A. G. (1970) Carta fitogeografica de Angola. Instituto de Investigacao Cientifica de Angola, Luanda, 323 pp.","Reynolds, G. W. (1960) Hunting aloes in Angola. African Wild Life 14: 13 - 25."]}

Schifani, Enrico, Mazza, Giuseppe (2021): Hercinothrips dimidiatus (Thysanoptera, Thripidae), an emerging pest of Aloe arborescens [Asphodelaceae] newly recorded from Italy. Zootaxa 5039 (3): 440-442, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5039.3.9

Wild leafy vegetables are commonly included in the diet of people in rural homesteads. Among various wild edible vegetables in South Africa, Trachyandra divaricata (Sandkool) is one of the most abundant but underutilized due to the dearth of literature on its cultivation and nutritional value. In the present study, the effect of potassium application and pruning on growth dynamics, mineral composition, and proximate and phytochemical content in T. divaricata were evaluated. Treatments consisted of three potassium concentrations (0.0072, 0.0144, and 0.0216 M) supplemented in the form of potassium sulphate (K2SO4) with four pruning levels (unpruned, 5, 10, and 15 cm) applied in each treatment. The potassium doses were added to the nutrient solution, while the control treatment was sustained and irrigated with nutrient solution only. The results revealed a significant increase in flower bud yield, height, total dry and wet weight of shoots and roots, as well as ash and neutral detergent fibre in plants irrigated with 0.0072 M of K2SO4 without pruning. Conversely, chlorophyll content and Ca were comparable among treatments, while the highest yield of Na, P, N, and Zn was recorded in treatment 100 mL of K2SO4 with 10 cm pruning. Likewise, the highest antioxidant value (Polyphenols, Flavonol and DPPH) was obtained from plants irrigated with 0.0072 M of K2SO4 with 10 cm pruning. Based on these findings, T. divaricata is a promising leafy vegetable as a minimum dose (0.0072 M) of K with moderate pruning optimised its productivity in terms of growth, biomass parameters, nutritional content, and antioxidant potential. Due to its rich nutritional value, the plant should be domesticated and studied further for its potential nutraceutical benefits.

The little-known Aloe labiaflava (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), which has for long been regarded as a hybrid between A. davyana and A. longibracteata, is reinstated as an accepted species endemic to a small area in the western Mpumalanga province of South Africa. It differs from both A. davyana and A. longibracteata in several reproductive morphological characters not present in these two species, especially by almost invariably producing only a single inflorescence per flowering season and by having a perianth that is distinctly flared at the mouth, with especially the external, apical ⅓ of the perianth conspicuously yellow.

Aloe labiaflava Groenewald (1936: 58) Also treated in: Groenewald (1941: 87, 104, 134, 139 [page not numbered], Map no. 11). Type: ��� SOUTH AFRICA, Transvaal [Mpumalanga province], Gemsbokspruit, August 1935, F. Z. van der Merwe 100 (lectotype, PRE; https://plants.jstor.org/fsi/img/size2/alukaplant/pre/phase_01/pre0005/pre0084275-0.jpg), designated as ��� Neotype ��� by Glen et al. (1995: 98); here corrected to lectotype. Epitype:��� SOUTH AFRICA, Mpumalanga province, Gemsbokspruit, rocky ridge in grassland, 23 August 2020, G. F. Smith 1120 (PRU!), here designated. Notes on the lecto- and epitype:��� Glen et al. (1995: 98) designated the specimen F. Z. van der Merwe 100 (Herb. PRE) from [South Africa], Transvaal [Mpumalanga], Gemsbokspruit, as ��� Neotype ���. Where the name A. labiaflava was published (Groenewald 1936: 58), no specimens were cited, as noted by Glen et al. (1995: 98). However, an illustration (a black-and-white line drawing) accredited to ��� F. V.D. M.���, a very likely reference to Dr F. Z. van der Merwe (10 December 1894 ��� 2 January 1968), a medical inspector of schools and amateur botanist (Verdoorn 1966: 59���60, Gunn & Codd 1981: 355, Glen et al. 1995: 97���98), with the handwritten heading ��� ALOE LABIAFLAVA ��� was published on an unnumbered page opposite p. 58 in Groenewald (1936). Van der Merwe is known to have provided his novel aloe collections to Groenewald for description during the 1930s (Klopper et al. 2013). The illustration published in Groenewald (1936: unnumbered page opposite p. 58) constitutes original material under Turland et al. (2018: Art. 9.4(b)). A coloured plate (dated ��� 1.9.1935 ���), of which the corresponding components (habit illustration, separate bud and flower, leaf, and frontal view of flower mouth) are identical to those in the illustration in Groenewald (1936), is held at Herb. PRE (Fig. 7). This illustration bears a reference to ���no. 100, TIPE!, FvdM���. The Herb. PRE specimen F. Z. van der Merwe 100 also constitutes original material, under Turland et al. (2018: Art. 9.4(a)), as it was collected in August 1935. While the exact date of publication of volume 14 of the Tydskrif vir Wetenskap en Kuns is not certain, the copy of this volume of the journal held in the Mary Gunn Library of the South African National Biodiversity Institute carries an official stamp that indicates that it was received on 14 February 1936, with the publication date therefore likely having been sometime in the first six weeks of 1936, which post-dates the collecting date of F. Z. van der Merwe 100 by five to six months. The F. Z. van der Merwe specimen was therefore available to Groenewald. Furthermore, even although not cited by Groenewald (1936), the original label on the specimen contains the word ���Tipe��� (Afrikaans for ���Type���) in what is believed to be the handwriting of F. Z. van der Merwe. We here correct use of ��� neotype ��� by Glen et al. (1995: 98) to ��� lectotype ��� under Turland et al. (2018: Art. 9.10). Material preserved as the type, F. Z. van der Merwe 100, is devoid of a rosette, consisting of a small piece of a leaf and two inflorescences only. An epitype, G. F. Smith 1120 (deposited at Herb. PRU), with an intact rosette and inflorescence is here designated as an interpretative type, collected from the same locality as the lectotype of the name A. labiaflava. Description:���Plants small, low-growing, solitary, rarely once-branched from the base, rosette erect, up to (10���) 20 cm tall. Stem �� absent, short, simple and thickened lower down if present, clothed in persistent, twisted, dried leaves. Leaves very densely rosulate, at first erect, then horizontally spreading, 5���15 cm long, 7���10 cm wide at base, dull greenish to purplish blue to glaucous, deltoid-lanceolate, abaxially pale green, faintly white-spotted, longitudinally purple-lined, lines narrow, somewhat confluent, adaxially more densely white-spotted, purple-lined but less so than abaxially, white spots �� oblong, sometimes arranged in interrupted, wavy transverse bands, texture smooth; margins shiny-orange-brown to shiny-dark brown, armed with prominent, short, very pungent, deltoid, shiny-brown, yellowish tipped teeth, �� 4���6(���9) mm long, 3���5(���9) mm apart, variously curved towards leaf base or more rarely straight. Inflorescence usually only one produced per season, unbranched raceme or 2- to 4-branched panicle, 0.6���0.8 m tall, erect, branched at or below middle, branches erect at narrow angle from peduncle; peduncle rather stout, lacking sterile bracts below racemes, panicle branches subtended by prominent fertile bracts of �� 25���40 mm long, drying rapidly, dull light brown to creamy white, irregularly deltoid to lanceolate-triangular, distinctly longitudinally dark brown lined. Racemes narrowly cylindrical, somewhat tapering upwards, 10���30 cm long, �� 4���6 cm wide where flowers are at anthesis, usually rather densely flowered; buds erect to erectly spreading, flowers pendulous at anthesis. Floral bracts �� 15���20 mm long, prominent, as long as or longer than pedicels, drying rapidly, light brown to creamy white, narrowly lanceolate, variously twisted, much narrower than fertile bracts. Pedicels (5���)10���15(���20) mm long, orange to reddish orange when young, light green with age. Flowers: perianth: buds uniformly orange to reddish orange, green-tipped; open flowers bright orange to bright reddish orange for basal &frac23;, whitish yellow to golden yellow in apical &frac13;, �� 30 mm long, �� 6���7 mm across ovary, narrowed above ovary to yield small bulbous base, distinctly enlarged towards mouth, middle �� cylindric, �� straight to down-curved to horizontally spreading; tips of segments distinctly flared, outer segments free for �� of their length; stamens with filiform-flattened filaments, uniformly light yellowish white, exserted for up to 3���6 mm; ovary 6���7 mm long, 2���3 mm in diam., light green; style well-exserted, uniformly light yellow; stigma tiny, very slightly capitate, yellowish. Fruit a capsule, 15���20 �� 8���10 mm, dull mid-green to purplish green, dry remains of perigone persistent for long time. Seed not seen. Chromosome number: unknown. Distribution:��� Aloe labiaflava has a small natural geographical distribution range around KwaMhlanga and Gemsbokspruit in western Mpumalanga province, South Africa (Fig. 8). Additional specimens investigated:��� SOUTH AFRICA, Mpumalanga, Gemsbokspruit, December 1935, F. Z . van der Merwe 101 (PRE!); August 1936, F. Z . van der Merwe s.n. (PRE 21377) (PRE!, [2 sheets]); 31 July 1938, G. W . Reynolds 2881 (PRE!); 23 August 2020, G. F . Smith 1120 ([the epitype held at] PRU!), 23 August 2020, G. F . Smith 1121 (PRU!). When Reynolds (1950: 293) concluded that A. labiaflava was a cross between A. davyana and A. longibracteata he inexplicably did not reference any of the Herb. PRE specimens we cite here, even although he himself collected a specimen of A. labiaflava, which he identified as A. longibracteata, at the type locality of A. labiaflava., Published as part of Smith, Gideon F. & Klopper, Ronell R., 2021, Reinstatement of Aloe labiaflava (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), a distinctive species of maculate aloe endemic to the western Mpumalanga province of South Africa, pp. 179-189 in Phytotaxa 512 (3) on pages 181-188, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.512.3.5, http://zenodo.org/record/5305743, {"references":["Groenewald, B. H. [as \" B. H. G. \"] (1936) ' n Nuwe aloesoort van Pretoria distrik [Aloe labiaflava]. Tydskrif vir Wetenskap en Kuns 14: 57 - 59.","Groenewald, B. H. (1941) Die aalwyne van Suid-Afrika, Suidwes-Afrika, Portugees Oos-Afrika, Swaziland, Basoetoeland, en ' n spesiale ondersoek van die klassifikasie, chromosome en areale van die Aloe Maculatae. Die Nasionale Pers Beperk, Bloemfontein, 172 pp.","Glen, H. F., Smith, G. F. & Hardy, D. S. (1995) Notes on African plants: Asphodelaceae / Aloaceae: Typification of Aloe species described by B. H. Groenewald. Bothalia 25: 97 - 109. https: // doi. org / 10.4102 / abc. v 25 i 1.710","Verdoorn, I. C. (1966) 1. Frederick Ziervogel van der Merwe. In: Verdoorn, I. C. & Codd, L. E. (Eds.) Hedendaagse plantkundiges en plantversamelaars. [2. Leslie Charles Leach]. Bothalia VIII Bylaag no. 1. (Bydraes deur die Navorsingsinstituut vir Plantkunde, Suid-Afrika, insluitende ' n oorsig van hierdie Instituut se werksaamhede gedurende die tydperk 1 Julie 1964 tot 30 Junie 1965), pp. 59 - 60 [- 64].","Gunn, M. [D.] & Codd, L. E. [W.] (1981) Botanical exploration of southern Africa. An illustrated history of early botanical literature on the Cape flora. Biographical accounts of the leading plant collectors and their activities in southern Africa from the days of the East India Company until modern times. A. A. Balkema, Cape Town, 400 pp.","Klopper, R. R., Crouch, N. R. & Smith, G. F. (2013) The 1930 s - heyday of aloe discovery and description in southern Africa. Aloe 50: 7 - 13.","Turland, N. J., Wiersema, J. H., Barrie, F. R., Greuter, W., Hawksworth, D. L., Herendeen, P. S., Knapp, S., Kusber, W. - H., Li, D. - Z., Marhold, K., May, T. W., McNeill, J., Monro, A. M., Prado, J., Price, M. J. & Smith, G. F. (2018) International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the Nineteenth International Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017. Regnum Vegetabile 159: 1 - 254. https: // doi. org / 10.12705 / Code. 2018","Reynolds, G. W. (1950) The aloes of South Africa. The Aloes of South Africa Book Fund, Johannesburg, 534 pp."]}

This study aimed to investigate the antioxidant and protective effect of E. persicus leaf hydroalcoholic extract (EPE) in preventing gastric ulcers induced by ethanol in rats. Wistar rats weighing 180-220 g were randomly divided into five groups. These groups included negative control (normal) group, positive control (ethanolic) group, comparative control (ranitidine recipient) group, group recipient the dose of 250 mg/kg plant extract, and group recipient the dose of 500 mg/kg plant extract. One hour after gavage of the drug and extract, the gastric ulcer was induced by feeding 1 ml of 96% ethanol to each animal except the rats of the negative control group. After one hour, the rats were killed, and their stomachs were separated. Then, the gastric Ulcer index (UI), pH, oxidative stress parameters, and histopathological changes in the stomach of all groups were measured. Pre-treatment of ethanol-induced rats with the EPE reduced (P 0.05) the ulcer index and gastric juice pH, compared to ethanolic group rats. Furthermore, pre-treatment with EPE at a dose-dependent manner, alleviated the gastric oxidative stress injury in rats through increase the activity of CAT, tissue NO

Although most species of Aloe Linnaeus (1753: 319) flower in winter, the comparatively few taxa of this genus that occur naturally above South Africa’s climatically severe Great Escarpment tend to flower during spring when temperatures are on the increase. Two such species are A. broomii Schönland (1907: 137) and A. grandidentata Salm-Dyck (1822: 3 [species no. 2]).