What pollinates the world’s smallest aloe?

Aloe albida plants that have found a sweet spot in a rock crevice.

At 18 cm tall when in bloom, Aloe albida is the smallest aloe in the world. It sports white and green flowers on a terminal flowerhead and fine, grass like leaves arranged in a rosette at its base. It grows in rocky grassland in the Barberton Centre of Plant Endemism. Their super power is to also flourish on steep spots that are not within easy reach for humans. Sometimes, their seeds fall on rocky, wooded outcrops and there they will also grow as long as there is enough sunlight and soil.

This little aloe is classified as a Vulnerable species. Its distribution range is very limited and it is known from about 25 places in the mountains. Very little is known about the complexity of their plant-pollinator interactions, and the factors that may affect them. This is where Verona Govender comes in. As part of her PhD-study she has to find answers to many questions that will expand current knowledge on what facilitates successful pollination. She also studies the role of colour in plant-pollinator interactions; and how habitat changes and fire regimes affect these plants and their pollinators pertaining to 3 of the grass aloes growing on Mountainlands. She and Saness Moodley, who we have reported on before, are currently on the reserve to observe visitors to Aloe albida flowers. Static cameras, capable of macro photography, have been placed close to plants to film movement. The girls are also catching insects for identification purposes and to see which ones carry pollen. It will be still a while before all the information gathered will be interpreted by Verona. We wish her all the best with her studies.

Verona Govender with an Aloe albida plant. This is the last of the 3 grass aloe species she is studying. 

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