Aloe mayottensis

[Colin Walker]

Also for those at all interested in the confused history of Aloe sakarahensis and A. zombitsiensis, this is summarised by Len Newton & Urs Eggli in Bradleya 36: 176-7, 2018.

[Herts Mike]

Here’s how my zombie went after flowering.

[ralphrmartin]

Looks undead to me... Sorry, couldn't resist.

Request for seeds noted, Colin. Washing the sticky gloop off is probably a good idea, but may be quite a tricky job!

[Herts Mike]

With all the Aloe splitting I don’t understand why these are still Aloes. They don’t look like Aloes and have different seeds. Lomataloes?

[Colin Walker]

With all the Aloe splitting I don’t understand why these are still Aloes. They don’t look like Aloes and have different seeds. Lomataloes?

Mike, again this is a brief summarised response since I'd guess that you, like Ralph and the euphorbia story, don't want the 2,000 word essay nor the hour long lecture/tutorial.

So, lomatophyllumas are all deeply embedded in the molecular family tree of aloe. As far as we can tell on the limited availability of data on these 20+ spp. they don't even form a discrete branch (clade) in the tree. It's possible that soft, fleshy berried fruits may have evolved more than once in the evolutionary history of aloes. We don't yet have the answer to this question, but watch this space, it's coming from a molecular biology lab near you sometime soon

The only distinct feature of the lomatophyllums is this unusual berried fruit. That's all.

So as with the case of the monadeniums and their horseshoe-shaped glands, this isn't a significant feature when it comes to recognition at the generic level.

BTW there hasn't really been much "aloe splitting" since only about 30+ spp. have been separated from Aloe, leaving this as a very large genus with 550+ spp.

Hope that briefly answers your question?

[Herts Mike]

You obviously know way more than me but zombie and citrea for example look nothing like Aloes.
Incidentally rosea is on my wants list should anybody have a spare!

[Colin Walker]

You obviously know way more than me but zombie and citrea for example look nothing like Aloes.
Incidentally rosea is on my wants list should anybody have a spare!

Mike, I do concur in that the lomatophyllums don't look like typical aloes. However, several other groups of aloes also have what I'd describe as being highly derived or have very specialised features. This suggests relatively recent evolutionary origin BTW.

Here I'm thinking principally of the 40+ spp. of grass aloes (which I find similarly tricky to grow with the odd few exceptions).

However, most "unusual" of all are the four former spp. of "bulbous" chortolirions, which BTW are now back in Aloe where they started from.