Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

104 ALOACEAE
Description
Habitat and
distribution
Aloe welmelensis
other members of the group by its paniculate inflorescence
with yellow flowers.
Erect or sprawling shrublet, unbranched or forming small clumps of
up to 3 stems; stems to 20 cm long, 2–4 cm thick. Leaves narrowly
elliptic, 25–35 × 3.5–5 cm, pale green with sparse white spots,
these sometimes rather obscure. Marginal teeth 2–8 mm apart, 1–2
mm long, whitish, sometimes with brownish tips. Inflorescence
ascending, 50–­75 cm long, with 8–13 branches, lower most with
short secondary branches. Racemes 3–14 cm long with two to three
flower per cm. Bracts ovate, 2–5 × 1–3 mm, scarious. Pedicels
8–12 mm long. Perianth cylindrical, 22–25 × 7–10 mm wide when
pressed; outer lobes free for 1/3 of their length.
The species grows on rocky slopes in Acacia horrida
bushland and under Euclea schimperi and Acacia hockii
thickets in Acacia–Combretum–Terminalia woodland
between 600 and 1600 m in Gamo Gofa floristic region.
It is so far not known anywhere else. The main flowering
period is from January to February.
42. Aloe welmelensis Sebsebe & Nordal
The specific epithet ‘welmelensis’ refers to the Welmel
River in Bale floristic region, along which the type
material of the species was collected from and the known
distributeion of the species so far. The species is described
in Kew Bulletin in 2010.
Fig. 57. Aloe welmelensis, from Welmel River, Bale floristic region.