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Tree Aloe

Aloe littoralis

Description:

small species of Tree Aloe reaching 4-5ft (1.5m) with a single stem clothed in old leaf bases bearing a crown of close packed rosette of substantial, succulent leaves. The leaves are a dull pale green with white spots on the under surface and are armed with evenly spaced teeth along the margins. A single sparsely branching erect inflorescence develops annually and each branch bears a dense spike of orange-pink flowers with yellow throats which open in sequence from the bottom upwards. Fruit capsules are short green cylindrical structures about half an inch long.

Habitat:

These aloes are currently growing in my garden in eastern Botswana but they started out in life in the sandy bush savannah of the Kalahari desert towards the western border of the country near Mamumo. We rescued them after they had been bulldozed out on a road construction site about 15 years ago.

Notes:

The nectar of these aloes is well liked by a number of bird species including the Sunbirds (Marico and White-bellied) and also the Blackheaded Golden Oriole and the Grey Lourie. The latter is a heavy bird, about the size of a magpie, and tends to cause physical damage to the flower spikes

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C.Sydes
Spotted by
C.Sydes

Ghanzi District, Botswana

Spotted on Apr 30, 2012
Submitted on Sep 4, 2012

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