This rarely cultivated aloe is native to limited areas of N Somalia and SE Ethiopia. It is a small arborescent species to about 1.25 m (about 4') tall. It can be solitary or branched from the base to form 2- to 6-branched colonies. We haven’t grown our plants to maturity but look forward to seeing the flowers which are described as being secund (arranged along the tops of the racemes) and pointed backwards on a broad panicle. An inflorescence of a plant given to the Huntington was initiated into tissue culture, May 26, 2021. The inflorescence came from a plant of Daniel Gledhill’s which he received from Alexandre Viossat. Viossat grew his from controlled pollination of plants grown from Giuseppe Orlando collection GO 230804, seed collected November 8, 2003, at 860 m altitude, about 60 km NNE of Boorama, Somalia. We offer plants from tissue culture of HBG 139277, $12.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 97 (2), Summer 2025