Forum rules
This section is dedicated toward maintaining one active thread for each Aloaceae species/subspecies/variety/cultivar. Please feel free to add information and/or photos to existing threads or start your own by adding Genus/species as the thread subject. Note that listings are displayed alphabetically. Enjoy!
Most growers of aloes find this one of the most spectacular and rewarding of all the aloes one can grow, and I am no exception. This Yemeni aloe is a suckering, trailing or low-branching, thick-stemmed, large aloe with upright or laterally facing rosettes of large, recurved, deltoid soft, somewhat rubbery, slightly bendable blue-green to maroon/purple/orange leaves (depending upon light, heat and water exposure). Teeth are yellowish, widely spaced and not very sharp. It is a relatively fast growing species and flowers just 3-5 years from a seedling size. Flowers are also rather large and vary from deep red to yellow-orange with various shades in between (salmon flowers are one of my favorites). Flowers are somewhat compact, beehive-shaped structures on solitary or reluctantly branching inflorescences on very thick stalks in winter. Sap s brilliant florescent yellow-green but dries and deep purple (just like the leaves of Aloe vaombe), a curious chemical change I can't begin to comprehend. But I have permanent reminders on some T-shirts from this sap color. This is not a plant I would be tempted to eat. Excellent specimen plant for both standard gardens and very steeply sloping ones (good one to plant so stems head downhill). Tolerates some shade, but does best in full, hot sun. Not the most cold tolerant species with significant leaf damage at about 26F (but recovers).
Aloe rubroviolacea Huntington.jpg (148.86 KiB) Viewed 2311 times
Aloe rubroviolaceas.jpg (147.15 KiB) Viewed 2311 times
