George Classen (1915 – 1982) was born in Russia and settled in Nairobi, Kenya. He botanized southern Kenya during the 1960s and 1970s while travelling professionally as a hydrologist, bringing a number of new succulent taxa (aloes, euphorbias, etc.) to the attention of botanists who subsequently described them as new to science. Aloe classenii is named in Classen’s honor in recognition of his contributions. It has subtly colored, pinkish flowers emerging from grayish buds and inflorescences. The foliage is perhaps more colorful, as it can blush reddish when properly stressed, such as where it grows in nature on low granite domes which are isolated in bushland along the Kenya – Tanzania border. We offer a single clone, multiplied via tissue culture, of HBG 77502, a seedling produced in 1991 by Brian Kemble from two plants obtained some years ago from the ISI. These parent plants were grown from seed collected by John Lavranos in Kenya. There were too few seedlings for distribution at the time, so that generation does not bear an earlier ISI number. $7.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 90 (2), Summer 2018