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November 24, 2007 : Aloe polyphylla
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Keywords: Asphodelaceae | Aloe polyphylla Schonl. ex Pillans | cultivated in San Francisco, California, USA
The final photograph in the series on African plants is courtesy (once again) of Eric in SF@Flickr (and PlantWorld), posted via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool (original). Thank you!
Aloe polyphylla, or spiral aloe, is native to Lesotho, though it is possible that it may occur in the surrounding South Africa. I've been trying to track down the conservation status – words like endangered and threatened are used on various sites, but it doesn't have a place in the 2007 IUCN Red List. It is, however, an Appendix 1 species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) , meaning it has the highest protection in terms of international trade. The cultivated plant in today's photograph will have been propagated from material in cultivation prior to the implementation of CITES in 1975.
Plantzafrica.com once again provides a detailed factsheet on the species, Aloe polyphylla. The US Botanical Garden also has brief article on spiral aloe, emphasizing the threats to the natural populations (including “unsustainable harvesting”).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at November 24, 2007 8:38 AM
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Comments
Posted by: Eric in SF at November 24, 2007 9:48 AM
ps. Xanthorrhoeaceae?
Posted by: Eric in SF at November 24, 2007 9:48 AM
Hmm, I suppose I repeated an error I had made in an earlier entry - it's often easier for me to find a family name for a genus from a previous BPotD entry than to search it again in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. Perhaps a mistake I made the original time when I looked at the APG (unless the family circumscriptions had changed and changed back, but that's extremely doubtful). Perhaps not, though - the two families are closely related, and Wikipedia makes brief mention of the issue on its page for Xanthorrhoeaceae. Whatever the case, I've moved to using Asphodelaceae as that is the current APG convention.
Posted by: Daniel Mosquin 
at November 24, 2007 11:29 AM
spiral aloe is just fine as a name
google took me to plantzarfrica.com
beautiful page the pictures are
really fine a beautful plant full
size and its flowers----- year 2002
it would seem the plant has been used
in muthi wtich craft -----
i surely do learn a lot from
from you two now its witch craft
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at November 24, 2007 12:05 PM
Great shot Eric! Thanks for the infomative post Daniel!
Posted by: David Midgley at November 24, 2007 12:47 PM
Wow, what a design! Fantastic.
Posted by: Meg Bernstein at November 24, 2007 1:53 PM
I wonder if it's a Fibonacci series.
Posted by: Alexander Jablanczy at November 24, 2007 8:37 PM
Aloe polyphylla - min 10 degrees C/50 degrees F - A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Brickell, Cole, Zuk
Aloe, al-o-e; old Arabic name, possibly from Arabic alloch, referring to species used medicinally. Plant Names Simplified, Johnson and Smith
Posted by: Beverley at November 24, 2007 9:25 PM
Yes, I believe it is a fibonacci sequence. The Botanic Gardens at Smith College had a wonderful exhibit about 5 years ago on fibonacci sequences in plants. Although the exhibit is no longer in place, they have movies and a virtual exhibit online. Fascinating stuff...
Posted by: Clinton Morse at November 27, 2007 4:04 AM
The eye of the cosmic chameleon.
Posted by: Anthony at December 4, 2007 1:23 PM
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
This plant was grown from seed produced from plants in cultivation prior to 1975. Seedlings are readily available at garden centers and cactus/succulent shows in the Bay Area.