Aloe candelabrum
A tall, single-stemmed tree aloe from the river valleys of south-central KwaZulu-Natal, with a stem 2-4 m (occasionally 8 m) tall wearing a skirt of dead leaves and a rosette of long, recurved leaves. Its candelabra-like inflorescence of 5-12 dense scarlet to orange racemes appears in mid-winter (June-July). It is close to Aloe ferox and the two seem to intergrade where their ranges meet.
Where it grows wild
It grows mostly on the north- and west-facing slopes of river valleys, which are the warmest and driest aspects, from the Mtamvuna north to the Mngeni. It is a prominent feature of the Mkomazi River system and sits within the Maputoland-Pondoland region of endemism.
Valley slopes inland of the coast; GBIF records rarely carry an elevation. On the coast itself it is replaced by Aloe thraskii.
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The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY 2.5 licence, unmodified.