Aloe ausana

[Aloenut]

Hi All/Colin,

Perhaps you can shed some light on this plant. It is labeled Aloe ausana. I have heard of it before but can't find much about it in the literature. Looks like a standard Aloe variegata to me.
[attachment 2373 Al_aus.jpg]

[Hob]

desert-tropicals says they are the same plant

http://www.desert-tropicals.com

Scientific Name: Aloe variegata L.
Synonym: Aloe variegata var. haworthii, Aloe punctata, Aloe ausana

[ralphrmartin]

Most books reduce A ausana to A variegata these days.

I have seen plants labelled A ausana which look a bit different to A variegata. The leaves tend to be shorter and perhaps broader , and held more horizontal, and the body to be a bit darker green then A variegata as normally encountered. The flower colour can be rather redder and less orange than sometimes seen in A variegata.

As for your plant - well, I guess it depends somewhat on how you have cultivated it. I wouldn't like to say if it were A ausana, or just plain A variegata (might be a nursery using a differnt name to get more sales! :-()

It's this lack of clear distinctive features which has led to it now being submerged into A variegata.

By the way, if anyone does have a spare A. ausana fitting my description above, I'd love to do a swap with you, buy it, etc.

[Phil_SK]

One thing about Aloe variegata is that, being such a popular houseplant over the years, it has been propagated almost exclusively by vegetative means. As a result I expect that a high proportion of the plants in cultivation are clones of one another. This must give an unrepresentative view of the variation within the species. It's little wonder then that a slightly different clone might be hailed as a new species.

[Colin Walker]

[size=medium]Hi Frank,

Looks like bog-standard A. variegata to moi. Sorry![/size]

[Aloenut]

Colin,

Same to me. I was wondering if you knew of a formal description of A ausana or how the name originated?

Aloenut

[ralphrmartin]

Aloenut

> I was wondering if you knew of a formal description of A ausana or how the name originated?

IPNI (International Plant Names Index) is the place to go to find where plants were first described.

http://www.ipni.org/index.html

It reports:

Aloe ausana Dinter & Dinter -- Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 29: 259, descr. ampl. 1931 (IK)

Aloe ausana Dinter -- Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 53: 16, in obs. 1928 (IK)

[ralphrmartin]

Dear All

> Looks like bog-standard A. variegata to moi.

I must say I am not too convinced by the picture at the top of this thread. But try looking at this picture:

http://www.palkowitschia.cz/sukulenty/G ... usana.html

This one looks a bit different (somewhat between "standard" A. variegata, and A. sladeniana in my opinion), and is the clone I am after...

All the best

[Colin Walker]

[size=medium]Hi Frank,

I'm now home and so have been able to check up on Aloe ausana. This hasn't been recognised as distinct from A. variegata since Reynolds' monograph of S. African aloes published in 1950. So, this is merely A. variegata. I suggest you re-write your label. Hope you didn't pay much for this. [/size]

[ralphrmartin]

Colin

I can see my "recognition" counts for nothing!

Ho hum. I bet your greenhouse is pretty empty - recognising only a few species in each genus, eh!?

You'll be lumping Stapelia into Pachypodium next, or something, I can tell!

(Not entirely seriously)