Month: January 2021

Aloe humilis (Hedgehog Aloe, Krimpvarkieaalwyn)

Although this species is very variable, it is easy to recognize (Aloe longistyla is somewhat similar, but usually grows as a single plant). The distribution area stretches from Mossel Bay to Graaff-Reinet and Somerset West, and the plants are most abundant in rocky loamy soils under shrubs. Plants from the Eastern Cape (pics 5 -7) are less robust than those from the southwestern part of the area (pics 1 – 4).

“Humilis” means “low growing” and refers to the stemless rosettes, which usually form dense clumps up to 40 cm or more in diameter. Each rosette consists of 20-30 leaves, erect or slightly incurved, with a distinct grey-green waxy layer, unspotted, about 10 cm long and up to 1.8 cm broad, with many small soft white prickles on both surfaces and soft white teeth along the margins.
About 20 flowers are gathered in single inflorescences of up to 35 cm tall. They appear from August to October and are scarlet or more rarely orange or yellow. With a length of about 4 cm, they are rather large for such a small plant.

It may be of interest to note that the species was cultivated in the Dutch East India Company’s garden in Cape Town as early as 1695.

Braunsia (Lampranthus) maximilianii

If I were to make a list of my favourite succulents, this species would have quite a high ranking on it. I’m not completely sure why that is: because of the beautifully shaped and coloured leaves, because of the delicate way the plants hug the ground, because of the size of the flowers compared to the rest of the plant or maybe a combination of all this. Their natural habitat is in shallow pans on rocks pavements, often together with moss, in the northernmost part of the Cape Province from the Bokkeveld Mts. to Piketberg. This area receives about 125 mm rainfall per year, mainly in winter.

The plants are mat-forming with creeping stems to 17 cm long, which form roots at the nodes.
They have boat-shaped, pale grey-green, velvety leaves with dark keel and margins and fused for more than half their length, 6-10 mm long, 5-6 mm wide and 6-8 mm thick.
The flowers are quite large (to 2.5 cm in diameter) and bright pink; they appear between July and October.

Common names: bloukraalvygie, kruipvygie

Note : the name of the species is spelt here with ‘ii’ because ‘Maximilian’ is not considered to be a latinized name, and therefore ‘maximiliani’ has to be corrected by adding an ‘i’ (ICBN Art. 60.11).