Fields |
|
Botanical name |
Aloe chabaudi |
Other names |
|
Family |
Asphodelaceae |
Dimensions |
A stemless aloe up to 80 cm in height with the inflorescence; forms clumps through suckering |
Description of stem |
Stemless to occasional short stems |
Description of leaves |
About 20 grey-green to blue-green leaves, reddish in direct sun, usually feintly longitudinally lined, sometimes confluently spotted (H-shaped) on both surfaces, especially on young plants, lower surface convex; leaves about 50 cm long and 10 cm wide at the base; cartilaginous edge and fine whitish teeth on leaf margins only; the leaf apex does not recurve as in A. globuligemma |
Description of flowers |
Inflorescence consists of a panicle characterised by multiple branching, sometimes slender, but often a profuse flourish of bright-red or pink-red flowers with an indentation just beyond the bulbous base of the perianth; raceme cylindric; anthers excerted |
Desciption of seed/fruit |
|
Description of roots |
Tends to make suckers from which new rosettes appear |
Variation |
One of the more variable aloe species |
Propagation and cultivation |
Grows easily, a common garden plant and multiplies over time into clusters of rosettes |
Tolerances |
|
Uses |
|
Ecological rarity |
Not threatened |
Pests and diseases |
|
Other |
More associated with Zimbabwe than South Africa as the central domain of the species |
Location |
Open grassland in various soil types, often near granite hills |
Distribution (SA provinces) |
Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Kwazulu-Natal |
Country |
South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania [Information from Reynolds, G.W. (1966) The Aloes of Tropical Africa and Madagascar. The Aloes Book Fund, Mbabane, Swaziland] |