Scientific name:
Aloe aculeata
Pole-Evans
Origin:
Aloe aculeata can be found in several areas in south Africa (Northern
Province, Mpumalanga) and it extends into Zimbabwe.
Habitat: It is found in rocky areas in grassland and
openbushveld.
Common Names include: Red hot poker aloe
Etymology: The species name "aculeata" comes from the Latine for
"prickly" refers to the leaf surface that is covered in uberculate
spines.
Description: Aloe aculeata is a (usually)
solitary stemless rosette which grows up to approximately 60(-100) cm
high, 30(-100) in diameter if not contained by pot.
Rosette: Each rosette is composed by flattish fat leaves that
arch upward like a bowl, though as plants age, plants tend to fall over
a bit and lose this semicircular sillohuette.
Leaves: Long and quite broad at the base , 120mm wide, from dull
green to turquoise with reddish-brown triangular teeth (or thorns) on
the margins and undersides. These warty spines have a different white
base colour which give the plant a mottled appearance. The spines is
variable, and many older plant populations have no more spines.
Flowers: Some specimens are uniform in colour while others
bicoloured, Colors are variable from red to orange to red and yellow,
all the way to greenish yellow. Flowers are tubular in shape, 40mm in
length, and flattened downward helping distinguish this aloes from most
other non-suckering, stemless South African Aloes.
In young plants the infloresence is single up 1 m tall, as the plant
matures the inflorescence may split into three or four branches. Each
raceme is long and narrow and gradually tapers to the tip.
Blooming season: Mid winter (in northern hemisphere) .
NOTE: Aloe peglerae can be
mistaken for Aloe aculeata when not in flower, but the
presence of thorns on both leaf surface is a characteristic unique to
Aloe peglerae.
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