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Scientific Name | Aloe lettyae Reynolds |
Higher Classification | Monocotyledons |
Family | ASPHODELACEAE |
National Status |
Status and Criteria | Endangered B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v) |
Assessment Date | 2015/07/01 |
Assessor(s) | L. von Staden & S. Kremer-Köhne |
Justification | The population of this local endemic has been fragmented due to extensive past habitat loss to timber plantations, and it remains at four, possibly five locations within an Extent of Occurrence of 123 km², and continues to decline due to ongoing habitat loss and degradation. |
Distribution |
Endemism | South African endemic |
Provincial distribution | Limpopo |
Range | This species is endemic to a small area in Limpopo Province, South Africa, where it occurs between Haenertsburg and Tzaneen. |
Habitat and Ecology |
Major system | Terrestrial |
Major habitats | Woodbush Granite Grassland |
Description | It occurs on east-facing slopes in Woodbush Granite Grassland. |
Threats |
| Aloe lettyae is endemic to the Critically Endangered Woodbush Granite Grassland, of which less than 30% remains intact, mainly due to extensive loss to timber plantations and agricultural expansion between 1950 and the late 1970s, and only about 10 relatively undisturbed fragments remain, the rest being severely overgrazed and infested with unmanaged alien invasive plants. However, even relatively well-preserved fragments such as the Haenertsburg Townlands continue to be degraded as a result of inappropriate fire management, which is possibly the cause of increasing encroachment by woody species. |
Population |
This species occurs in small, localized groups of solitary plants - it is not clump forming as other members of the Aloe zebrina complex. Subpopulation size varies between 200 and 1000 mature individuals (S. Kremer-Köhne, pers. obs.). Four subpopulations are known to remain on grassland fragments, and a fifth site, known through historical records, still needs to be surveyed. Grasslands at all other locations known through historical records have been completely lost to timber plantations and agricultural expansion. A continuing decline is inferred from ongoing habitat loss and degradation.
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Population trend | Decreasing |
Assessment History |
Taxon assessed |
Status and Criteria |
Citation/Red List version | | Aloe lettyae Reynolds | EN B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v) | 2015.1 | |
Bibliography |
Reynolds, G.W. 1937. Two new aloes from Zululand and two from the Transvaal. Journal of South African Botany 3:133-141.
Reynolds, G.W. 1940. Aloe lettyae. Flowering Plants of Africa 20:t. 764.
Reynolds, G.W. 1969. The Aloes of South Africa. A.A. Balkema, Cape Town.
Smith, G.F., Figueiredo, E., Klopper, R.R. and Crouch, N.R. 2012. Summer-flowering species of maculate Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae) in the Aloe zebrina-complex from South Africa: reinstatement of four names, and description of A. braamvanwykii Gideon F.Sm. & Figueiredo. Bradleya 30:155-166.
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Citation |
| von Staden, L. & Kremer-Köhne, S. 2015. Aloe lettyae Reynolds. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2025/04/10 |
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