Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

42 ALOACEAE
ALOACEAE
The members of this family are perennial, with or without
a woody trunk. They have thick, usually bright yellow
roots (due to the high content of anthraquinons, a yellow
pigment characteristic for the families Aloaceae and
Aspho del aceae). Most representatives have succulent
leaves in a basal rosette, or on the trunk. The flowers
are large and showy, usually fleshy, glabrous or hairy,
bisexual, and nearly radially symmetric. The perianth
is situated below the ovary and consists of six tepals.
Septal glands producing nectar are found in the walls that
separate the three rooms of the ovary. The ovary develops
into a capsule which opens by three slits between these
walls. In each room there are two to numerous seeds. The
seeds have an extra seed coat (aril) which can easily be
peeled off.
This mainly African family includes 7 genera, (Aloe,
Chamaealoe, Poelnizia, Astroloba, Lomatophyllum,
Haworthia, and Gasteria) of which only one, Aloe, is
represented in the Horn of Africa. It is now often joined
with Asphodelaceae.
ALOE L.
The genus Aloe was described by Linnaeus in 1753. The
south African botanist G.W. Reynolds contributed greatly
to the knowledge of this genus through the publication of
two large, well illustrated books, one in 1950 covering the
southern African species and the second in 1966 covering
the tropical African and the Madagascar species. Quite a
number of new species were described from Ethiopia in
the 1990’s and eight additional new species have been
discovered since the publication of Volume 6 of Flora of
Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1997.
The plants are easily recognised by their rosettes
of large, thick, succulent leaves, which are sometimes
spotted. The rosettes are situated on the ground or on