Aloiampelos Commixta

Aloiampelos commixta is a flowering plant in the Asphodelaceae family, commonly called the Table Mountain aloe or the Peninsula rambling aloe. It is a rare succulent that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula of South Africa, occurring naturally only on the Table Mountain range within the city of Cape Town, and most often in the central part of the Peninsula around Kommetjie, Kalk Bay, Fish Hoek, Simon's Town and Miller's Point. It is a rambling, multi-stemmed plant that rarely passes one metre in height, with thick, fleshy leaves about 200 millimetres long and dense bright orange-yellow flowers in late winter. In the wild it survives both frost and fire. The Khoi, the oldest known inhabitants of the Cape, knew and used it medicinally, and it was among the first plants cultivated in the Company's Gardens by the Dutch East India Company. The compounds credited with its medicinal qualities are aloin from the sap and polysaccharides and glycoproteins from the pulp.