Asphodelaceae: Alooideae. Reinstatement of aloe spectabilis

Abstract

Aloe spectabilis Reynolds (1937) was described from material that was collected from KwaZulu-Natal, the eastern-most province of South Africa. Previously, material of this species was erroneously considered to represent a form of A.ferox Mill. (Berger 1908: 310,311), a predominantly southern and eastern Cape species (see Van Wyk & Smith 2003: 56 for a distribution map of A. ferox). Aloe spectabilis, in contrast, has its present-day centre of distribution around Bushman's River Valley near Weenen, along the Mooi River near Muden and Keats Drift, and in the Tugela [Thukela] River Valley between Mpofana and Pomeroy on the Greytown-Dundee Road in KwaZulu-Natal.