Aloe ser. Macrifoliae

The Climbing Aloes
Aloe tenuior, a member of the Macrifoliae series.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Asphodelaceae
Subfamily:	Asphodeloideae
Genus:	Aloe
Series:	Aloe ser. Macrifoliae Haworth
Species
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Aloe ser. Macrifoliae (the "Climbing Aloes") is a taxonomic series within the genus Aloe, comprising seven closely related species of Southern African climbing aloe. These aloes are typically multi-branched climbing or sprawling shrubs, with long spindly stems and a large woody base on the ground. These characteristics, as well as their soft, narrow, triangular leaves whose lower part ensheathes the stem, make these Aloes easy to distinguish.

This group of aloes is centered in the Eastern Cape, South Africa where they are also particularly common. A few rare species also occur in isolated pockets further west in the fynbos vegetation of the Western Cape.

The most common species in this group is probably Aloe ciliaris which is relatively widespread in South Africa. It seems to have developed from the smaller, rarer, finely leaved Aloe tidmarshi (now re-classified as a subspecies, Aloe ciliaris tidmarshi) and to have spread out across the country relatively recently.
Its relatives, moving westwards along the South African coast, are: Aloe tenuior of Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, Aloe striatula of the higher mountain ranges bordering the Karoo, and Aloe gracilis of the area around Port Elizabeth (where the Eastern Cape thickets fade into the Western Cape fynbos vegetation).

Further west, the Fynbos vegetation of the neighbouring Western Cape is subject to frequent fires, making it relatively inhospitable for Aloes. Nevertheless, several rare relict Macrifoliae Aloe species survive in tiny isolated pockets within the Fynbos biome, such as Aloe decumbens, Aloe juddii and Aloe commixta.

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Wikipedia