Aloe mendesii Reynolds (Asphodelaceae) is a distinctive cliff-dwelling species from southern Angola. It is one of the few species of Aloe L. that Dr G.W. Reynolds described using immature flowering material. Although the name has an unambiguously designated holotype, up to now uncertainty existed as to the origin of the material on which it was based. It is shown conclusively that Dr Eduardo Mendes sent material that he obtained from Mr J. Brito Teixeira to Reynolds in Swaziland. Reynolds described the new species in 1964 from this material, naming it for Mendes. However, the type was collected by Sr R. [Romeu Mendes dos] Santos and Sr C. [Carlos Alves] Henriques, under the number Santos & Henriques 1131, at Tundavala on 4 July 1963, a year before Reynolds published this new name.