Aloe cryptopoda
A large, stemless or short-stemmed aloe of south-central Africa, known as Dr Kirk's aloe or spire aloe, forming grey-green rosettes and producing tall, branched spikes of red-and-yellow or yellow flowers whose buds are hidden by large bracts. It grows on granite inselbergs and rocky slopes with little grass, from 60 to about 1500 m, in a climate of hot summer rain and a long dry winter. Grow it in full sun in a very free-draining mix, watering in summer and keeping it dry in winter.
Where it grows wild
Grows on inselbergs and rocky slopes with little or no grass cover, in the savanna and woodland country of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana. Plants root in pockets of gritty soil among rocks, fully exposed to sun.
Recorded from about 60 to 1525 m above sea level.
🔒 Growing it like that
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-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.