Table Mountain Aloe
| Aloe commixta | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Asphodelaceae |
| Subfamily: | Asphodeloideae |
| Genus: | Aloe |
| Species: | A. commixta |
| Binomial name | |
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Aloe commixta Mill. |
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Aloe commixta or the Table Mountain aloe is a rare climbing aloe that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. It naturally occurs only on the Table Mountain range, within the city of Cape Town. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN global Red List.
Aloe commixta is a rambling, multi-stemmed aloe, also known as the Peninsula Rambling Aloe. This "accent plant" rarely gets over 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall, as its slender stems tend to sprawl along the ground and over rocks.
Aloe commixta flowers in late winter (August and September). A stout inflorescence shoots up, bearing reddish erect buds that open into dense, bright orange-yellow flowers. In its natural habitat in the fynbos vegetation of Table Mountain, its flowers are pollinated by sunbirds and honey bees.
The leaves are thick, fleshy and evenly-spaced on a fine stem, with distinctive green stripes on the internodes. The leaves tend to be about 200 mm long, with tiny white teeth along the margins.
A. commixta is easily identified by its straight, wide, succulent leaves (that do not recurve downwards, as in the case of many other climbing aloes), by its slender, sprawling stems, and by the unique and distinguishing subcapitate raceme of its flowers. In particular, its flowers are much larger than those of other climbing aloes, and are bunched together more densely at the top of the raceme.
Cape Town's very own unique Aloe, this species is indigenous (and endemic) to the Cape Peninsula. Within this tiny natural range, Aloe commixta is particularly concentrated in the central region of the Peninsula, in the area around Kommetjie, Kalk Bay, Fishhoek, Simonstown and Miller's Point (although smaller, outlying populations exist elsewhere on the Table Mountain chain). This elegant little aloe is also one of only three aloes that are indigenous to the city of Cape Town (the others being the Fynbos Aloe and the Soap Aloe).
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Wikipedia