Aloe excelsa
A single-stemmed tree aloe, usually about 3 m but up to 6 m tall, with a dense crown of dark green leaves up to 1 m long, growing on rocky, wooded hillsides from Limpopo through Zimbabwe to Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. It gets summer rain and a cool, dry winter, when it flowers. It needs full sun, a very free-draining mineral mix and a dry winter rest.
Where it grows wild
It grows on rocky, well-drained hillsides and granite outcrops in dry woodland, in places with moderately stable soils. Specimen labels from Botswana note it with Combretum apiculatum, Euphorbia ingens and Acacia nigrescens. Young plants are spiny and grow among rocks and grass; adults stand above the surrounding bush.
The literature gives about 800–1600 m. Few GBIF records carry an elevation, but most come from the Zimbabwe highveld and middleveld, such as the Matobo hills near Bulawayo.
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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.