Aloe cryptopoda

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Botanical name

Aloe cryptopoda

Other names

Geelaalwyn (Afrikaans); aloe wickensii

Family

Asphodelaceae

Dimensions

Stemless; single, large rosette, often 70 cm tall

Description of stem

Absent to closely so

Description of leaves

Narrow, erect, green or greyish green, sometimes with broad banding across the leaf; smooth leaf surfaces with small, red-brown teeth only on the edges

Description of flowers

A few branched inflorescences may emerge from the same rosette, about 1,5 m tall; some plants have racemes that are longer, narrower, conical and monocoloured red, orange or yellow; others are shorter and bicoloured as the perianths start off red, turning yellow upon opening as in A. lutescens; this bicolour variation used to be called A. wickensii in the past

Description of seed/fruit

 

Description of roots

 

Variation

Some of the plants will flower before the normal winter flowering period, as early as February; a somewhat confusing variety of flower forms exists

Propagation and cultivation

Transplants easily and grows readily from seed; slow-growing

Tolerances

Part to full sun; tolerates different watering patterns, e.g. some watering in  winter or even very little water throughout the year

Uses

A popular garden plant, good in dry garden areas or for 'xeriscaping'

Ecological rarity

Common

Pests and diseases

 

Other

Cryptopoda means hidden foot

Location

Grassland and rocky patches

Distribution (SA provinces)

North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, but generally to the south of where A. lutescens is normally found, although there are Zimbabwean recordings of the plant being indigenous there as well

Country

South Africa, Zimbabwe

 

 


Aloe cryptopoda flower photo by Johannes Vogel

A. cryptopoda flower  - photographed by Dorette Potgieter

 

 

Photograph by Ricky Mauer