Aloestrela Molteno & Gideon F.Sm., gen. nov.

Photographer unknown. ©The National Herbarium of South Africa (PRE), South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Reproduced with the permission of the Curator.

Type: Aloestrela suzannae (Decary) Molteno & Gideon F.Sm. (≡ Aloe suzannae Decary).

Number of species: one.

Diagnosis: Solitary, very large, tall-growing, single-stemmed, aloe-like perennial, reaching a height of 4m. Leaves erect to gracefully curved upwards, glaucous-green (Figure 4); surface rough to the touch, margins dentate; apices blunt-rounded. Inflorescence araceme, to 3m tall. Flowers tubular, perigone apices recurved.

Description: Perennial, solitary, very large, single-stemmed, leaf succulent. Stem to 3–4(– 7?)m tall, up to 25cm in diameter, brown, rough, usually unbranched, less frequently branched. Leaves 100 × 8–10cm, amplexicaul, succulent, nu-merous, erect to gracefully curved upwards, cymbiform in cross-section, remains of old leaves persistent for a short time; surface dull glaucous green, roughened, lacking spots and scattered teeth, leathery; margins armed with small, triangular teeth; apices blunt- to obtuse-rounded, small-toothed. Inflorescence asimple, erect, densely flowered, cylindrical, brush-like raceme, to 3m tall including peduncle; peduncle to 1m long; pedicels to 30mm long; bracts to 15mm long, not exceeding pedicels, ± elongated-deltoid. Flowers 30–40(–45)mm long, with aslight basal swelling, nocturnal; tepals spreading to strongly recurved apically, white to creamy white, orangey pink-infused; anthers well-exserted, spreading fan-like beyond mouth of flower; filaments pinkish orange; ovary cylindrical; ovules placed almost horizontally, 24–30 per locule (Steyn & Smith, 1998: 195). Fruit a loculicidal capsule. Seed shortly winged. Chromosome number: 2 n = 14 (Brandham, 1971: 387). Genome size (2 C /pg) 33.3 picograms (Zonneveld, 2002: 8).

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Distribution: Toliara Province (formerly Toliary or Tuléar), aformer province of Madagascar (endemic).

Conservation: The species is of conservation concern (Smith & Swartz, 1997, 1999; Castillon & Castillon, 2010: 274) and is regarded as Critically Endangered (Rakotoarisoa et al., 2014: 89).

Etymology:The genus Aloestrela is named for Professor Dr Estrela Figueiredo of the Department of Botany of the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Figure 1). Estrela has a longstanding interest in succulent plants and authored or co-authored over 100 scientific papers and several books on aloes alone.

The specific epithet suzannae commemorates Mademoiselle Suzanne Decary, daughter of Raymond Decary. Decary first described the species as an aloe (Decary, 1921: 26, foot note no. 2).