Aloiampelos tenuior
Aloiampelos tenuior, formerly Aloe tenuior, the fence aloe, is a bushy, multi-branched succulent plant from the grasslands and thickets of the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu Natal and Mpumalanga, South Africa. Its preferred habitat is sandy soils in open country, unlike many of its relatives that favour thicket vegetation. It is one of the most profusely flowering of all aloes and their relatives. Description. Locally, this plant is known as "iKhalene" in Xhosa, "inTelezi" in Fengu, and simply the fence aloe in English. The specific epithet "tenuior" means "very slender", and refers to the plant's stems. A medium -sized, bushy plant that forms clumps up to 3 m tall, with leaves tufted at the ends of branches. The leaves have a distinctive greyish-green colour and the leaf margins have tiny white teeth. These leaves are a traditional remedy for tapeworm. An unusually large, woody rootstock usually forms on the ground at the base of the plant. Like all species in the genus, flowers are borne on slender racemes and are usually bright yellow (although there are red-flowered forms, sometimes called var. "rubriflora"). "Aloiampelos tenuior" flowers throughout the year, but especially in winter, and the small flowers  appear on thin, un-branched racemes. Varieties. "Aloiampelos tenuior" is an extremely variable species. The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) does not recognize any varieties, treating them all as synonyms of the species. Varieties recognized by some sources include: Relatives. "Aloiampelos tenuior" is part of a genus including "Aloiampelos ciliaris" (which occurs in the dry thicket from Ciskei to Baviaanskloof), "Aloiampelos gracilis" (which occurs to the west in dry thicket from Port Elizabeth through the Baviaanskloof), "Aloiampelos striatula" (found to the north on higher, rocky mountain tops), and "Aloiampelos decumbens", "Aloiampelos juddii" and "Aloiampelos commixta" which occur only  in isolated pockets in the coarse sandstone sands of Western Cape Fynbos. However, "Aloiampelos tenuior" can be distinguished from its relatives by its thin, greyish, non-recurved leaves.