Aloiampelos tenuior leaves

Aloiampelos tenuior leaves are not always blue-green. The intraspecies differences are no longer recognised in the earlier series of varieties, now abandoned.

Many branched stems are grown from a notable woody base at, and immediately below ground level. Underground plant parts are somewhat tuberous, spreading as wide as 60 cm. From this base the plant develops a straggly shrub-shape as some stems may be erect, recurved or decumbent. Plant height varies between the common 1 m and occasional 3 m when stems tend to be supported by surrounding vegetation.

The slender stems end in lax leaf rosettes. Leaf presence on the stems reaches down a short distance below the stem-tip in picture. Below that the lower stem parts are bare, from points determined by seasonal hardship. The bare parts are slightly marked or gnarled from dropped-off leaves.

The lanceolate to linear leaves are thinly fleshy, sheathed at the base. The blades are nearly flat, hairless and without spots. Leaf dimensions are about 10 cm to 18 cm long and 1 cm to 2,2 cm wide with internodes up to 2,5 cm long but variable. The specific name, tenuior, is derived from the Latin word tenuis meaning thin, referring to the thinness of the leaves. The marginal teeth are cartilaginous and white, usually less than half a millimetre long and decreasing in size to the leaf-tip. The teeth are unevenly spaced, from 1 mm to 2 mm apart (Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist).