Kumara (genus)

Kumara
The fan aloe (Kumara plicatilis)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Asphodelaceae
Subfamily:	Asphodeloideae
Genus:	Kumara

Kumara is a proposed genus of two species of flowering plants in the subfamily Asphodeloideae, native to the Western Cape Province of South Africa.^[1][2]

Separation from Aloe genus

Phylogenetic studies indicated that two species that were traditionally classed as members of the Aloe genus were genetically distinct and comprised an entirely separate clade. The species were accordingly split off as a separate genus, given the name that it had previously held, "Kumara".^[3]

Species

• Kumara plicatilis, formerly known as Aloe plicatilis. Mill.^[4]
• Kumara haemanthifolia, formerly known as Aloe haemanthifolia. Mill.^[5]

Both species have a unique distichous ("fan") arrangement to their grey, strap-shaped leaves. Both are also indigenous to roughly the same range of mountains in the south-western corner of the Western Cape, South Africa, however the tall tree-like Kumara plicatilis is found on the lower slopes of the mountains, while the tiny stemless Kumara haemanthifolia inhabits the high peaks.

• 
  Kumara plicatilis grows as a small tree.
• 
  The stemless Kumara haemanthifolia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kumara (Xanthorrhoeaceae).

References