''Gonialoe dinteri'', the Namibian partridge aloe, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the

Asphodelaceae Asphodelaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Asparagales. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists, but the circumscription has varied widely. In its current circumscription in the APG IV system, it includes about 4 ...

family. It is native to arid areas of

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

Description

The plants form stemless rosettes of up to 30 cm wide. Smaller offshoots sometimes develop from the main stem. The long sharp, triangular leaves are dark brownish green with white linear spots and cartilaginous margins. Tall, very thin multi-branched

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s appear from January to March, with small sparse pale pink and sometimes bluish flowers. It is named after German botanist

Kurt Dinter Moritz Kurt Dinter (10 June 1868 – 16 December 1945) was a German botanist and explorer in South West Africa. Education and career Dinter was born in Bautzen, where he attended the Realschule. After completing his military service he joi ...

. Taxonomically, it was formerly part of the ''Serrulatae'' series of three very closely related ''

Aloe ''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering plant, flowering succulent plant, succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Acc ...

'' species, together with '' Gonialoe variegata'' and '' Gonialoe sladeniana''. Recent phylogenetic studies have shown these three species to constitute an entirely separate genus, what was published under the name ''

Gonialoe ''Gonialoe'' (the partridge aloes) is a small genus of three succulent plant species—''Gonialoe dinteri, Gonialoe sladeniana and Gonialoe variegata''—Endemism, endemic to coastal South Africa, Namibia and Angola. They were formerly included w ...

''. While this species looks rather similar to its two sister species, it can be distinguished from '' Gonialoe sladeniana'' by its longer leaves which curve downwards, and it can be distinguished from '' Gonialoe variegata'' by its large size, taller thinner sparser inflorescence, and the spots on its leaves being more linear, almost to the point of being stripes. The

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s of ''G. dinteri'' are 3 nerved, unlike its sister species which are 1 nerved. ''G. dinteri'' also has an unusually large root stock; its roots form a far larger percentage of its body weight than all the rest of the plant put together.

Distribution

''Gonialoe dinteri'' is found in fragmented populations across a large, arid portion of Namibia, around the edges of the

Namib Desert The Namib ( ; ) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and northwest South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba Ri ...

, into extreme southern

. It usually occurs in deep cracks in limestone or granite rock, or growing under scrub. It is listed in the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

under the species synonym ''Aloe dinteri''. In its native area, the little rain that does occur tends to fall in the summer. Traveling towards the southern limit of its range, the climate gradually gives way to a winter-rainfall climate, with ''G. dinteri'' being eventually replaced by '' G. sladeniana'' (which inhabits the central intermediate zone) and, ultimately, by '' G. variegata'' even further south (where winter-rainfall climates predominate) to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

coast of South Africa, and the Cape

fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...

Cultivation

This species can be grown in cultivation, but needs dry conditions and very well-drained porous soil. It is relatively cold-hardy, due to the low nighttime temperatures of its desert habitat. Reynolds, G.W. 1950. ''The aloes of Southern Africa.'' Balkema, Cape Town.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q63663505, from2=Q140938 dinteri Flora of Angola Flora of Namibia Least concern plants Least concern biota of Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Alwin Berger Taxa named by John Charles Manning Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN