1026.000 Aloe L. - Aloe

Succulent perennials, sometimes large and shrub-like, but not dichotomously branched trees or large shrubs. Leaves borne in rosettes or distichous, usually stiff, succulent, with hard-toothed or spiny margins, spotted or unspotted; dried leaves persistent or not. Inflorescence variously branched or simple. Flowers usually brightly coloured, actinomorphic, only rarely ± 2-lipped, variously shaped, with or without a pronounced constriction above a bulbous basal swelling. A well known genus of mainly winter-flowering species.

Derivation of name: Aloe is the Greek name for Aloe vera, one of the bitter aloes of medicine.

Worldwide: c.365 species, tropics and especially southern Africa, Madagascar, Arabia and Canary Isles.

Zimbabwe: 43 taxa.