![Number of aloe names described per decade (current names only) since 1753. The different colours represent different types of names. Blue is for names that were described and are still treated in the same way today. Red is for new combinations (comb. nov.) and names of new status (stat. nov.). A new combination is where a berried aloe, for instance was described in the genus Lomatophyllum (e.g. Lomatophyllum prostrata H.Perrier), and later transferred to the genus Aloe [Aloe prostrata (H.Perrier) L.E.Newton & G.D.Rowley]. This new name in the genus Aloe is a new combination. New status names are made when a species is later made a subspecies or variety, or when a subspecies or variety is raised to species level [e.g. Aloe gracilis Haw. var. decumbens Reynolds was raised to species status and became A. decumbens (Reynolds) Van Jaarsv.]. There are not many new combination and new status names in aloes (both are referred to under the collective term 'new combinations' in the text), but it is nonetheless important to distinguish between these different names.](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ronell-Klopper/publication/242019243/figure/fig7/AS:668289801916430@1536344113621/Number-of-aloe-names-described-per-decade-current-names-only-since-1753-The-different_Q320.jpg)
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44 ALOE 50:1&2:2013. ISSN 0002-6301
Aloes of the world:
When, where and who?
Ronell R. Klopper & Gideon F. Smith
Figure 1. Distribution map of the genus Aloe (modied from Carter et al. 2011).
The red shading indicates species density, with the more species-rich areas a darker
shade of red. Divisions on the map show the different regions referred to in the text.
Introduction
The genus Aloe L. comprises just more
than 600 taxa (including subspecies
and varieties) (Carter et al. 2011; Grace
et al. 2011). Aloes naturally occur in
Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Socotra,
Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands.
The highest species density of aloes is
found in southern, eastern and north-
eastern Africa, Arabia and Madagascar,
with only very few species in the west
African countries (Figure 1).
Aloes come in a variety of growth
forms, from small miniatures to tall
trees, and anything in between (Figure
2). They are usually characterised by
their boat-shaped, succulent leaves that
are armed with often erce marginal
teeth or terminal spines, and are more
or less arranged in rosettes; rarely the
leaves remain distichous. Aloe owers
are generally tubular and are typically
arranged in tall, often candle-like
inorescences (Klopper & Smith 2010).
This description depicts the typical aloe
that most people think of. However,
there are many exceptions to this rule
because members of the genus Aloe are
extremely varied and fascinating plants
(Figures 3 and 4).
The Aloes of the World Project
(AWP) is funded by the Andrew Mellon
Foundation as part of the African Plants
Initiative Project (API; see http://
plants.jstor.org). The AWP was initiated
in 2007 with a workshop in Pretoria that
was attended by about 40 international
experts on the genus Aloe. The aim of
the AWP is ultimately to compile and
disseminate a comprehensive electronic
facility that assembles all relevant
information and available images of
this exclusively Old World genus — on
a global scale, and in a user-friendly
information base. As part of the API, this
web-based facility is intended to serve
the needs of a broad range of scholarly
stakeholders. Information from the
AWP will also be included in an online
scratchpad as part of the eMonocot
project (see http://e-monocot.org/).
Signicant progress has been made
in capturing detailed morphological
descriptions, based on the templates
created at the 2007 AWP Workshop (Smith
et al. 2008), with ± 62% of descriptions
for current taxa completed. Additional
information and content envisaged for
web dissemination include distribution
maps and images, as well as notes on,
amongst others, habitat, owering time,
altitude, and the derivation of names
(Figueiredo & Smith 2010; Smith et al.
2011). Several regional treatments of
aloes, which combine the accumulated
information for the relevant taxa, have
been published since the start of the
project (Klopper & Smith 2007; Klopper
et al. 2009a, 2009b, 2011, 2012) and a few
45ALOE 50:1&2:2013. ISSN 0002-6301
Figure 2. Examples of the diversity of growth forms in aloes. a. Tall single-stemmed aloe, Aloe vaombe (Photo: S.E. Rakotoarisoa). b. Branched
tree aloe, Aloe castanea (Photo: J.E. Burrows). c. Acaulescent solitary rosette, Aloe broomii (Photo: N.R. Crouch). d. Acaulescent or short-stemmed
and suckering or branching to form dense groups, Aloe framesii (Photo: A.W. Klopper). e. Grass aloe, Aloe boylei (Photo: N.R. Crouch).
f. Miniature aloe, Aloe krapohliana (Photo: R.R. Klopper). g. Rambling aloe, Aloe ciliaris (Photo: E.J. van Jaarsveld).
more are in the pipeline. The expected
completion date of the project and online
distribution of the compiled information
is towards the middle of 2014.
Electronic dissemination of informa-
tion of a taxonomic nature has gained
considerable ground over the past 10
years. It is envisaged that the AWP web
content will become an indispensable
resource for all students of aloes. Data
gathered as part of the AWP is currently
held in an MS Access database and will
likely be moved to a Botanical Research
and Herbarium Management System
(BRAHMS) database in the near future.
This database has enabled the analysis
of assembled data in a variety of ways
not previously possible. Some of the in-
teresting results of these analyses relat-
ing to the description of aloes are briey
discussed in this paper.
Aloe description through the
decades
Certain time periods saw the description
of more aloe names than others (see
Table 1). The picture also differs when
analysis is made of the total number
of names linked to aloes (this includes
synonyms and totals ± 1 300 names)
(Figure 5) or just the current names
(Figure 6). When considering current
names only, there was an initial
slow start in the description of aloes
(with 1753, the year of publication of
Linnaeus’ Species Plantarum, obviously
taken as the starting point; see below),
but the rate accelerated in the 1870s,
with intermittent high peaks ever since.
There has been an especially steep rise
in the number of aloes during the past
three decades. Many of these high peaks
can be attributed to a single author or
a few individuals, and the work done
by them was often in preparation of an
important publication on the group.
The following account is a brief
summary of aloe description since 1753
to the present day, providing details
about the most prominent people
involved and the regions in which they
worked. Numbers given refer only to
names published by an author that are
still treated as current names today.
Mention is also made of some important
publications that appeared in one or
other time period.
1753–1760: Although aloe discovery
and description began well before
1753, we start with this date as it is
the ofcial starting point of botanical
nomenclature with the introduction of
the binomial system by C. Linnaeus in
46 ALOE 50:1&2:2013. ISSN 0002-6301
Figure 3. Examples of the diversity of leaf arrangement and markings in aloes. a. Leaf margin with sharp teeth and surface covered in spines
or prickles, Aloe aculeata (Photo: R.R. Klopper). b. Leaves in rosette, margin without teeth, longitudinal striations on surface, Aloe karasbergensis
(Photo: A.W. Klopper). c. Cauline dispersed leaves with leaf sheath clearly visible, Aloe ciliaris (Photo: N.R. Crouch). d. Leaves in four dense
rows along stem, Aloe pearsonii (Photo: A.W. Klopper). e. Fan-shaped leaf arrangement, Aloe plicatilis (Photo: A.W. Klopper). f. Leaves in rosette,
margin with teeth, maculate surface, Aloe transvaalensis (Photo: R.R. Klopper).
Species Plantarum (Linnaeus 1753). In
this binomial naming system, which is
the basis of modern nomenclature, each
organism is known by a two-part species
name (a genus name and a specic
epithet, e.g. Aloe arborescens), whereas
before this time plants were described
by using a Latin phrase (or polynomial).
In Linnaeus’ Species Plantarum (1753)
several names were treated under the
genus Aloe, but most have been moved
to other genera since. Of the ‘true aloes’,
only Aloe variegata L. is still treated as a
current name today.
1761–1770: The rst person to contribute
signicantly to the study of aloes was
P. Miller in the Gardeners Dictionary,
specically the eighth edition published
in 1768. He mainly described new aloes
from southern Africa. Other authors
publishing during this period were N.L.
Burman [a new combination for Aloe
vera (L.) Burm.f.] and R. Weston (one
species from southern Africa).
1771–1780: The next prominent author
was P. Forsskål, who accompanied the
Royal Danish expedition to Arabia Felix
(now Yemen) in 1761–1763 (Carter et al.
2011) and described several new aloes
from this region. It is interesting that Ara-
bia received attention this early and then
nothing important happened in this re-
gion in terms of aloe research until the late
1880s and 1890s, and also more recently.
Three other authors that made contribu-
tions during this period were P. Miller,
C. Allioni and F. Masson, who each pub-
lished one aloe from southern Africa.
F.K. Medikus described a new
genus, Kumara Medik. (it has since been
included in Aloe) and published a new
name in this genus for what is today
Aloe plicatilis (L.) Mill.
1781–1790: J.B.A.P.M.C. de Lamarck
described three new aloes from across
the distribution range of this genus: one
each from Mauritius, east Africa and
northeast Africa. C. Linnaeus jnr. and
W. Aiton each described one new aloe
from southern Africa.
1791–1800: None of the ten new aloe
names published during the 1790s are
regarded as current names today. These
names were published by C.P. Thunberg
(southern Africa), R.A. Salisbury (south-
ern Africa), C.L. Willdenow (southern
47ALOE 50:1&2:2013. ISSN 0002-6301
Figure 4. Examples of the diversity of racemes in aloes. a. Typical dense inverted conical raceme, Aloe microstigma (Photo: A.W. Klopper).
b. Lax inverted conical raceme, Aloe davyana (Photo: R.R. Klopper). c. Peduncle rst pendent and then curved to carry the raceme erectly,
Aloe catengiana (Photo: E.J. van Jaarsveld). d. Dense capitate raceme, Aloe maculata (Photo: A.W. Klopper). e. Dense cylindrical raceme,
Aloe helenae (Photo: A.W. Klopper). f. Raceme with hairy owers, Aloe molederana (Photo: A.W. Klopper).
Africa) and A.P. de Candolle (southern
Africa, northeast tropical Africa, Ara-
bian Peninsula and Mauritius).
1801–1810: In 1804, A.H. Haworth
published a new arrangement for the
genus Aloe (Haworth 1904). He also
described several aloe names from
southern Africa of which only two are
still considered current. De Candolle
(southern Africa), J.B. Ker Gawler
(southern Africa), C.L. Willdenow
(southern Africa and Mauritius)
and J.A. Schultes (southern Africa)
each published a few names during
this period that have all since been
synonymised.
1811–1820: Haworth described two new
aloes from southern Africa and one from
Reunion. C.L. Willdenow (southern Africa
and Mauritius), W.T. Aiton (southern
Africa), J.B. Ker Gawler (southern Africa
and Mauritius) and Prince J.M.F.A.H.I.
von Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck (southern
Africa) [or Salm-Dyck, as he is more
commonly referred to] published names
during this decade that are no longer
accepted as current names. Willdenow
published the new genus Lomatophyllum
Willd. for the berried aloes from
Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands,
F.K. Medikus described a new genus of
48 ALOE 50:1&2:2013. ISSN 0002-6301
Figure 5. Total number of aloe names described per decade (current names and synonyms)
since 1753.
Figure 6. Number of aloe names described per decade (current names only) since 1753.
The different colours represent different types of names. Blue is for names that were described
and are still treated in the same way today. Red is for new combinations (comb. nov.) and
names of new status (stat. nov.). A new combination is where a berried aloe, for instance
was described in the genus Lomatophyllum (e.g. Lomatophyllum prostrata H.Perrier), and later
transferred to the genus Aloe [Aloe prostrata (H.Perrier) L.E.Newton & G.D.Rowley]. This new
name in the genus Aloe is a new combination. New status names are made when a species is
later made a subspecies or variety, or when a subspecies or variety is raised to species level
[e.g. Aloe gracilis Haw. var. decumbens Reynolds was raised to species status and became A.
decumbens (Reynolds) Van Jaarsv.]. There are not many new combination and new status
names in aloes (both are referred to under the collective term ‘new combinations’ in the text),
but it is nonetheless important to distinguish between these different names.
tree aloes from southern Africa (namely
Rhipidodendrum Medik.), and Ker Gawler
described the new genus Phylloma Ker
Gawl. (mostly for berried aloes from
the Mascarene Islands). All three of
these then new genera have since been
included in Aloe.
1821–1830: A.H. Haworth continued
his important research on aloes in the
1820s and described ten new aloes from
southern Africa. He also described the
new genus Pachydendron Haw. that would
later be transferred to Aloe. W.J. Burchell
and Salm-Dyck each described one new
aloe from southern Africa. J.A. Schultes
and J.H. Schultes jointly published a
new name and new combination for
two southern African aloes. H.F. Link
(southern Africa), L.A. Colla (southern
Africa), K. Sprengel (southern Africa),
R. Sweet (Mascarene Islands) and J.A. &
J.H. Schultes (across Africa) published
new names or new combinations that are
no longer regarded as current.
1831–1840: The 1830s did not see a lot of
research or publication on aloes. Salm-
Dyck (southern Africa), H.W. Bojer
(Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands)
and E.G. von Steudel (Arabia and
southern Africa) all described several
names that have since been synonymised.
The work by Bojer in Hortus Mauritianus
(1837) is the rst known record of the
aloes of Madagascar and the Mascarene
Islands (Carter et al. 2011).
1841–1870: During the 1840s to 1860s
there was a big lull in the description of
aloe names. Salm-Dyck published two
new aloes from southern Africa. E.G. von
Steudel published names in the genus
Phylloma, which was later subsumed in
Aloe. R.A. Salisbury described the new
genus Busipho Salisb. and transferred
Aloe ferox Mill. to it. This genus has not
been upheld by subsequent workers.
1871–1900: J.G. Baker dominated
research on aloes during the next three
decades. By the end of his career Baker
had described a total of 42 new aloes and
a further 20 names that are now treated
as synonyms. Aloes described by him
include the rst formal description of
aloes from Socotra and Madagascar. He
started his research on southern African
aloes and later shifted his focus to east
and northeast tropical Africa. His long
list of publications on aloes includes
Contributions to the Flora of Madagascar
(Baker 1883), and the contributions
of the genus Aloe to the Flora Capensis
(Baker 1896) and Flora of Tropical Africa
(Baker 1898).
A. Todaro described four aloes from
northeast and western tropical Africa in
the late 1880s and early 1890s. Between
1888 and 1895, H.G.A. Engler described
one aloe from southern Africa, and four
from east tropical Africa (some extend-
ing into other areas). Several other
authors each contributed one or two
names during this period, e.g. W.T. This-
elton-Dyer (one from southern Africa),
I.B. Balfour (one from Madagascar),
G.F. Scott-Elliot (one from Madagascar),
A.B. Rendle (one from east tropical Afri-
ca and extending into northeast tropical
Africa), C.E.O. Kuntze (one from south-
ern Africa) and W. Watson (one from
northeast tropical Africa).
A. Deers explored the Arabian
Peninsula between 1885 and 1894. He
was only the second person to conduct
botanical exploration in this region, after
P. Forsskål over 120 years earlier. He
made several expeditions to the Yemen
and the south of Saudi Arabia (Carter et
al. 2011). He published the rst formal
description of an aloe with a hairy
perianth, namely Aloe tomentosa Deers
from Arabia (Carter et al. 2011). During
49ALOE 50:1&2:2013. ISSN 0002-6301
this time, G.A. Schweinfurth also visited
the Yemen (1888–1889) and described
three new aloes from northeast tropical
Africa and two from Arabia.
1901–1910: The most prominent aloe
researcher of this decade was A. Berger
who published a new systematic
arrangement of the genus (Berger
1905a), and several other works on
aloes, including a monograph on the
genus (Berger 1908). At the time he was
employed at La Mortola, the Hanbury
Gardens, near Ventimiglia, in Italy. He
described nine new aloes (two together
with H.W.R. Marloth) from southern
Africa, two from south tropical Africa
(one also extending to southern and
eastern Africa), ve from east tropical
Africa (one extending to west-central
tropical Africa), three from northeast
tropical Africa (but also occurring in
east tropical Africa), one from mainly
west and west-central tropical Africa,
three from Madagascar and one from the
Comoro Islands. He further described
several new aloes that are still regarded
as insufciently known taxa today.
Berger also published the new genus
Chamaealoe A.Berger that has since been
included in Aloe.
S. Schönland worked on the aloes of
southern Africa during the 1900s. He
described nine new aloes from southern
Africa, two of which extend into south
tropical Africa (one as far as east Africa
and west-central tropical Africa). Authors
contributing one species each during this
decade are: J.G. Baker (southern Africa),
H.G.A. Engler and E.F. Gilg (south
tropical Africa), J.H. Hemsley (south
tropical Africa), I.B. Balfour (Socotra),
G. Karsten and H. Schenck (northeast
tropical Africa), A.B. Rendle (east and
west-central tropical Africa) and H.W.R.
Marloth (southern Africa).
1911–1920: During the 1910s I.B. Pole
Evans described 14 new aloes from
southern Africa (three of which also
extend into south tropical Africa).
Several other authors made small
contributions to our knowledge of aloes
during this decade by describing new
aloes: S. Schönland (one from southern
Africa), A. Berger (one occurring in
southern and south tropical Africa),
A.B. Rendle (two from south tropical
Africa), and J. Decorse and H.-L. Poisson
(one from Madagascar).
1921–1930: During the 1920s several new
aloes were published from Madagascar.
R. Decary described three new aloes
from this island, as well as a new
gasteria that was later transferred to the
genus Aloe. An important publication
on the berried aloes and the aloes of
Madagascar (Perrier 1926) was produced
by J.M.H.A. Perrier de la Bâthie. In this
publication he described 22 new aloes
from Madagascar and made one new
combination [Aloe antandroi (Decary)
H.Perrier, originally described in the
genus Gasteria by Decary in 1921]. He
treated the berried aloes in the genus
Lomatophyllum and published six new
berried aloes and one new combination
in this genus. In 1927 he described
another two new aloes from Madagascar.
P. Danguy also described one new aloe
from Madagascar.
E. Chiovenda published two new
aloes from northeast tropical Africa
(one extending to east tropical Africa).
Other people describing one new
aloe each during this decade are:
E.A.J. de Willdeman (west-central
tropical Africa), A. Berger (southern
Africa), M.K. Dinter (southern Africa),
N.S. Pillans (southern Africa) and
L. Guthrie (southern Africa).
1931–1940: In the 1930s G.W. Reynolds,
the man who would become a leading
authority on aloes, appeared on the
scene and, together with N.S. Pillans
and B.H. Groenewald (who worked
very closely with F.Z. van der Merwe),
was responsible for a huge number
of new aloes described from southern
Africa. Reynolds described a total of
24 new aloes mainly from southern
Africa, some extending to south tropical
Africa, including the rather widespread
Aloe christianii Reynolds, which he
named after his rival, H.B. Christian.
Pillans described nine new aloes from
southern Africa (one with Schönland).
Groenewald published several new
names from southern Africa, of which
only six are still upheld. H.B. Christian
also started his research on the aloes
of south tropical Africa. He described
a total of eight new aloes mainly from
south tropical Africa (one with E. Milne-
Redhead).
O. Stapf published the new genus
Leptaloe Stapf for the grass aloes. He also
published one new name and three new
combinations in this genus. A. Lemeé
raised one of Berger’s sections to genus
level, namely Aloinella (A.Berger) Lemée
and published a new combination
for Aloe haworthioides Baker from
Madagascar in this genus. J. Leandri
published a new berried aloe from
Madagascar in the genus Lomatophyllum.
Both new genera and the berried aloes
have since been included in Aloe. Other
people describing a few new aloes
during the 1930s are: A.A. Bullock
(one from east tropical Africa), L. Bolus
(one from southern Africa), I.B. Pole
Evans (one from southern Africa), C.L.
Letty (one from southern Africa) and
A. Guillaumin (one from Madagascar).
1941–1950: In the early 1940s,
B.H. Groenewald published his book
on southern African aloes (Groenewald
1941). During this decade very little
happened in southern Africa as G.W.
Reynolds focused on his ground-
breaking work, The Aloes of South Africa
(Reynolds 1950), which for many aloe
enthusiasts is still considered to be the
standard reference work (albeit out of
date) on southern African aloes. In this
time period he transferred only three
names from Leptoaloe to Aloe making new
combinations for them in Aloe (two of
these are still current). In his 1950 book,
Reynolds published a further two new
aloes and made a new combination all of
which are still treated as current today.
During this time, H.B. Christian was
very active in south tropical and eastern
Africa and published six new aloes from
east tropical Africa, two from south
tropical Africa (one with I. Verdoorn,
and the other extending to east tropical
and west-central tropical Africa) and
one from northeast tropical Africa.
A. Guillaumin described three new
aloes from Madagascar, as well as a new
berried aloe in the genus Lomatophyllum
that was later transferred to Aloe.
1951–1960: In the 1950s G.W. Reynolds
slowly started describing new aloes
again, but focussed his attention on
eastern and northeast Africa and
Madagascar. Before this, Reynolds
had concentrated on southern Africa
only, based on an agreement with
H.B. Christian that he would not work
on the aloes north of the Limpopo River
(Long 1950). After Christian’s death
in 1950, however, Reynolds saw the
opportunity to continue his work on the
rest of the genus. During this decade,
he described a total of 42 aloes that are
still current: one from southern Africa,
six from south tropical Africa (one
extending to east tropical Africa), nine
from east tropical Africa (two extending
to west-central tropical Africa, one to
northeast tropical Africa and one to
south tropical Africa), 17 from northeast
tropical Africa (six with P.R.O. Bally;
one also occurring in east tropical
Africa), one from west-central tropical
Africa, and seven new aloes and a new
combination from Madagascar.
A further four new aloes described
by H.B. Christian were published
posthumously: one from south tropical
Africa, one from northeast tropical
Africa, two from east tropical Africa
(with I. Verdoorn). D.M.C van Druten
50 ALOE 50:1&2:2013. ISSN 0002-6301
Figure 7. Number of aloe names described by each author.
Figure 8. Top 10 most prolic authors of aloe names that are still considered to be current.
[Images obtained from the following sources: G.W. Reynolds – SANBI; J.J. Lavranos, T.A.
McCoy, L.E. Newton, S. Carter – Aloes of the World Workshop photo; J.G. Baker – The Natural
History Museum, London; J.-P. Castillon – www.aloe-de-madagascar.com; A. Berger –
wwww.cactus-pro.com; H. Perrier de la Bathie – Dorr (1997); H.B. Christian – SANBI]
published a new combination for Aloe
alooides (Bolus) Druten from southern
Africa –– this aloe was originally
described as an Urginea in 1881, based
on only an inorescence. P.R.O. Bally
and I. Verdoorn jointly published one
new aloe from northeast tropical Africa.
A. Bertrand published the new genus
Guillauminia and a new combination in
this genus for an aloe from Madagascar.
This genus was later included in Aloe.
1961–1970: G.W. Reynolds continued his
work in tropical Africa and Madagascar
and published his second monumental
work, The Aloes of Tropical Africa and
Madagascar (Reynolds 1966). As with his
previous book, this became a standard
reference for decades to come. During
this decade he described four new aloes
from Madagascar, three from northeast
tropical Africa (two with P.R.O. Bally),
four from east tropical Africa, one from
southern Africa that also extends into
south tropical Africa, seven from south
tropical Africa, one from the Arabian
Peninsula and one new combination
from south tropical Africa.
During the 1960s J.J. Lavranos
described six new aloes from the Arabian
Peninsula and made a new combination
for another. These were amongst the
rst new aloes, which are still accepted
as good taxa today, to be described from
this region since the very early work of
P. Försskal almost 200 years earlier and
the three aloes described by A. Deers
(one in 1889) and G.A. Schweinfurth
(two in 1894).
W. Rauh described one new aloe
from Madagascar, I. Verdoorn three
from southern Africa (one with
D.S. Hardy), L.C. Leach one from south
tropical Africa, J.M. Bosser three from
Madagascar and W. Giess one from
Namibia in southern Africa.
1971–1980: J.J. Lavranos continued his
research on aloes and described two
new aloes from southern Africa, three
from the Arabian Peninsula (one with
A.S. Bilaidi and two with L.E. Newton),
two from northeast tropical Africa, and
four from east tropical Africa (three with
L.E. Newton). L.C. Leach was also very
active in south tropical Africa during
the 1970s. He described ten new aloes
from south tropical Africa (mostly from
Angola, one extending into southern
Africa and one into east tropical Africa),
and one from northeast tropical Africa.
W. Marais described two new berried
aloes and made one new combination in
the genus Lomatophyllum from Aldabra
and the Mascarene Islands. These
were later transferred to Aloe. Other
authors describing new aloes during
this decade were: D.S. Hardy (two from
southern Africa), W. Giess [two from
Namibia, southern Africa (one with
H. Mermüller)], G.D. Rowley (one from
northeast tropical Africa), G. Cremers
(two from Madagascar), B. Mathew
(one from the Democratic Republic of
Congo in west-central tropical Africa),
I. Verdoorn (one from southern and
south tropical Africa), and S. Carter
(three from east tropical Africa with
P.E. Brandham).
This decade also saw the publication
of several books mainly on the southern
Africa aloes (Bornman & Hardy 1971;
Jeppe 1974; West 1974; Jankowitz 1975).
51ALOE 50:1&2:2013. ISSN 0002-6301
1981–1990: In the 1980s H.F. Glen and
D.S. Hardy started work on the Flora of
Southern Africa treatment of Aloe (Glen
& Hardy 2000). Hardy and Glen each
described one new aloe from south-
ern Africa on their own, but jointly
published two new aloes and one new
combination from this region. W. Rauh
described two new aloes from Mada-
gascar, while J.J. Lavranos described
one new aloe from the Arabian Penin-
sula and one from northeast tropical
Africa. L.E. Newton published four new
aloes from east tropical Africa (two with
H.J. Beentje and two with J.J. Lavranos).
S. Carter and P.E. Brandham jointly de-
scribed three new aloes and made one
new combination mainly from north-
east Africa, as well as one new aloe
from southern Africa. E.J. van Jaarsveld
described three new aloes from south-
ern Africa (one with K. Kritzinger).
J.R.I. Wood (Arabian Peninsula) and
D.C.H. Plowes (southern Africa) each
published one new aloe during this dec-
ade.
1991–2000: Although two publications
on the aloes of southern Africa appeared
during the 1990s (Glen & Hardy 2000;
Van Wyk & Smith 1996), no new aloes
were described from the region during
this decade. The period did see a steep
rise in the number of new taxa described
from eastern Africa though. L.E. Newton
described eight new aloes from east
tropical Africa and one from northeast
tropical Africa. During the 1990s
S.Carter worked on the Flora of Tropical
East Africa treatment of the aloes (Carter
1994). She described six new aloes from
east tropical Africa (one extending to
northeast tropical Africa; two were
described jointly with L.E. Newton)
and one from northeast tropical Africa.
She also made two new combinations
from east tropical Africa (one extending
to northeast tropical Africa). Sebsebe
Demissew started working in northeast
Africa during the 1990s and described
twelve new aloes from northeast
tropical Africa (two extending to east
tropical Africa; one with P.E. Brandham,
ten with M.G. Gilbert, and one with
M. Dioli). J.J. Lavranos continued to
describe new aloes: three from northeast
tropical Africa (one with S. Carter), ve
from Madagascar (one with W. Röösli),
and nine from the Arabian Peninsula
(seven with S. Collenette).
W. Rauh described four new berried
aloes, in the genus Lomatophyllum, from
Madagascar (one with R. Hebding, one
with A. Razandratsira, and one with
R. Gerold), which were later transferred
to Aloe. He also published a further
four new aloes from Madagascar (one
with R.D. Mangelsdorff, and two
with R. Gerold). P.V. Heath proposed
a new generic arrangement in the
Asphodelaceae (Heath 1993, 1994). To
this effect he described the new genus
Leemea P.V.Heath and made three new
combinations for Madagascan aloes in
this new genus. His treatment further
supported the use of the segregate genus
Guillauminia. The generic concepts
of Heath were not widely supported
and both Leemea and Guillauminia
are included in Aloe. Other authors
describing aloes during this decade are:
A.F.N. Ellert (one from south tropical
Africa), P. Favell with M.B. Miller and
A.N. Al Gifri (one from the Arabian
Peninsula), and J-B. Castillon (two from
Madagascar).
Although R. Schill (1973) had already
proposed the inclusion of the berried aloes
(Lomatophyllum) as a section in the genus
Aloe some 25 years earlier, the transfer
was made only in 1998 when G.D. Rowley
and L.E. Newton made the necessary
taxonomic changes (which included three
new combinations in Aloe for species of
Lomatohyllum from Madagascar).
2001–2010: In this decade L.E. Newton
described four new aloes from east
tropical Africa and one from northeast
tropical Africa. J.J. Lavranos published
seven new aloes from the Arabian
Peninsula (one with B.A. Mies, two
with T.A. McCoy, and one jointly with
McCoy and A.N. Al Gifri), eight from
northeast tropical Africa (all with
McCoy), six from east tropical African
(all with McCoy), seventeen from
Madagascar (eight with McCoy, one
with M. Teissier, and ve jointly with
McCoy and B. Rakouth), and one new
aloe that is naturalised in Jordan (with
K. Koch), as well as a new combination
from Madagascar with M. Teissier.
T.A. McCoy published extensively with
Lavranos, but also described three new
aloes from the Arabian Peninsula and
two from northeast tropical Africa on
his own, as well as one from northeast
tropical Africa with M. Dioli.
G.F. Smith described ve new al-
oes from southern Africa (two with
N.R. Crouch and two with R.R. Klop-
per). E.J. van Jaarsveld described eight
new aloes and made a new combination
from southern Africa (two extending
into south tropical Africa). He published
many of these names jointly with sever-
al co-authors: A.B. Low (one), A.E. van
Wyk (three) and W. Swanepoel (one).
The largest contribution during this
decade came from the father and son
team of J-B. Castillon and J-P. Castillon,
who worked extensively in Madagascar.
J-B. Castillon described 21 new aloes
and made two new combinations for
Madagascan aloes on his own, while
J-P. Castillon published ve new
Madagascan aloes. Jointly they also
described one new aloe and made ve
new combinations.
Other authors publishing new aloes
during this decade were: S.S. Lane (one
from south tropical Africa), P.I. Forster
(one from Madagascar), S.J. Christie
with D.P. Hannon and N.A. Oakman
(one from northeast tropical Africa),
A.F.N. Ellert (one from the Comoro
Islands, and two from south tropical
Africa), S. Carter (one new aloe from
northeast tropical Africa and one new
combination from south tropical Africa),
N. Rebmann (four from Madagascar)
and S.J. Marais (one from southern
Africa). B.J.M. Zonneveld made four
new combinations from southern
Africa, two of which are accepted by
some authors.
Books that appeared during this
decade were the Flora Zambesiaca
treatment (Carter 2001), The Aloes of
Malawi (Lane 2004), A First Field Guide
to Aloes in Southern Africa (Smith 2004),
Aloes, Aristocrats of the Namibian Flora
(Rothmann 2004), Aloes in Southern Africa
(Smith & Van Wyk 2008), and the huge
work by J-B. & J-P. Castillon on The Aloe of
Madagascar (Castillon & Castillon 2010).
2011 to present: Research on the genus
continues and the rst two years of this
decade have already seen the description
of fteen new aloes by various authors
and their co-authors: Sebsebe Demissew
described four new aloes from northeast
tropical Africa (one each with Tesfaye
Awas, I. Friis, and I. Nordal); E.J. van
Jaarsveld published four new aloes
(three from southern Africa (two with
W. Swanepoel and one with P. Nel)
and one new aloe from Angola in south
tropical Africa; M. Dioli and G. Powys
jointly described a new aloe from east
tropical Africa; J-B. Castillon one from
Madagascar; J-P. Castillon two new
aloes and two new combinations from
Madagascar; L.E. Newton two new aloes
from east tropical Africa; G.F. Smith
and E. Figueiredo one from southern
Africa; G.F. Smith published two new
combinations for southern Africa
aloes (one each with N.R. Crouch and
E. Figueiredo).
Two important new books were also
published: The Aloe Names Book (Grace et
al. 2011) resulting from the AWP, which
deals with aloe names, their synonyms,
the meaning or derivation of these
names, and provides a collection of
vernacular names for aloes. The second
publication was the long-awaited
book in which all aloes were treated
52 ALOE 50:1&2:2013. ISSN 0002-6301
in one volume for the rst time since
the books of Reynolds (1950, 1966). As
with Reynolds’ two volumes, Aloes: the
Denitive Guide (Carter et al. 2011) is
bound to become a standard reference
for years to come.
Most prolic authors of aloe
names
Who are the people that described the
greatest number of aloe names, thus
making the largest contribution to
our knowledge of the genus? If you
were to ask this question of various
aloe enthusiasts you would get widely
differing lists of names. However, the
name of Reynolds will surely be high on
all of them. Thanks to the AWP database,
we can, for the rst time, easily determine
who the most prolic authors of aloe
names were. There were many authors
over the decades that worked on aloes,
but most of them contributed only a few
names. A handful of authors, however,
contributed a very large number of aloe
names (Figure 7). The 10 authors who
described the largest number of names
still regarded as current today are shown
in Figure 8.
The top 10 authors of aloe names are
a very good mix of historic and current
authors. Having historic gures such
as Baker, Berger and Perrier in the top
10, where aloes described by them
in the late 1800s and early 1900s are
still considered to be good taxa today,
illustrates the value of the work done by
these very early researchers.
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Ronell R. Klopper
Biosystematics Research & Biodiversity
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Science, University of Pretoria, 0002 Pretoria,
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Gideon F. Smith
Ofce of the Chief Director: Biosystematics
Research & Biodiversity Collections, South
African National Biodiversity Institute,
Private Bag X101, 0001 Pretoria, South Africa
/ Acocks Chair, H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt
Herbarium, Department of Plant Science,
University of Pretoria, 0002 Pretoria, South
Africa / Centre for Functional Ecology,
Departamento de Ciências da Vida,
Universidade de Coimbra, 3001-455 Coimbra,
Portugal. (email: G.Smith@sanbi.org.za)
