Bradleya 30/2012 pages 127 – 137 Aspects of the taxonomy of Aloe arborescens Mill. (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae) Gideon F. Smith1, Ronell R. Klopper2, Estrela Figueiredo3 & Neil R. Crouch4 1 Office of the Chief Director: Biosystematics Research & Biodiversity Collections, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Private Bag X101, 0001 Pretoria, South Africa / Acocks Chair, H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium, Department of Plant Science, University of Pretoria, 0002 Pretoria, South Africa / Centre for Functional Ecology, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Universidade de Coimbra, 3001-455 Coimbra, Portugal. (email:
[email protected]). 2 Biosystematics Research & Biodiversity Collections Division, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Private Bag X101, 0001 Pretoria, South Africa / Department of Plant Science, University of Pretoria, 0002 Pretoria, South Africa. (email:
[email protected]). 3 Department of Botany, P.O. Box 77000, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 6031 Port Elizabeth, South Africa / Centre for Functional Ecology, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Universidade de Coimbra, 3001-455 Coimbra, Portugal. (email:
[email protected]). 4 Ethnobotany Unit, South African National Biodiversity Institute, P.O. Box 52099, 4007 Berea Road, South Africa / School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 4041 Durban, South Africa. (email:
[email protected]). Summary: Taxonomic concepts in the morpholog- Cultivare behandelt werden sollten, statt als for- ically variable Aloe arborescens Mill. are dis- melle taxonomische Einheiten auf Ebenen unter- cussed. Previous approaches to the taxonomy of halb der Art. Formelle Unterscheidungen auf this species varied from describing aberrant Ebenen unterhalb der Art können erst gemacht material as new entities, using formal taxonomic werden, wenn die Art aufgrund intensiver For- categories, to selecting forms with horticulturally schungen über das gesamte Verbreitungsgebiet desirable characters and naming these as culti- im Rahmen von Feldarbeit unter Einbezug aller vars.