Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

288 DRACAENACEAE
Habitat and
distribution
the middle into a stout concave­channelled base, margins mostly
wavy with hardened, 1 mm wide reddish­brown edges, rough with
fine transverse ridges or entirely smooth on both sides; surface
green, mott led and speckled whitish green or without markings.
Inflorescence 95 cm or more high; peduncle 1 cm or more thick
at the base, with 5–6 ova te­lanceolate, acute or acuminate sheaths
on the lower half, and flower-clusters occupying the upper half.
Flowers up to 4 in a cluster, pedicels up to 10 mm long. Perianth
white. Fruit 6–13 mm in diameter (dried), 1–3seeded, pale to dark
green ripening to orange or red.
The species grows in a wide range of habitats in dry
areas including rocky places, Com bretum woodland
with tall grasses, riverine vegetation, between 550 and
2000 m in Shewa, Illubabor, Gamo Gofa, Sidamo, Bale,
and Harerge floristic regions in Ethiopia, and in Eritrea.
It also occurs in Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, and
Congo. The main flowering period in Ethiopia is from
May to August.