This is the first of two Karen Zimmerman aloe hybrids to be offered this year. The name for this one is inspired by the jagged teeth lining the leaf margins, reminiscent of a coarse-toothed saw or the rostrum of a sawfish. These fascinating fish, related to rays, have a number of remarkable qualities, including the ability to reproduce by parthenogenesis, i.e. unfertilized eggs developing into females genetically identical to the mother. Likewise, all specimens of Aloe ‘Sawbones’ are genetically identical, unless somatic mutation has occurred in tissue culture, a rare, but not unknown, phenomenon that is indicated by an appearance different than the original selection. Ours, however, seem to be uniform. The parentage is complex, but involves backcrosses to a couple of other Zimmerman hybrids including A. ‘Confetti’ and A. ‘Marsha Layhew’. We offer HBG 127581, plants from tissue culture. $15.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 90 (2), Summer 2018