Aloe melanacantha
A compact, spiny aloe of Namaqualand in far western South Africa, ranging from Nieuwoudtville north to the Orange River. It grows among rocks in dry shrubland, and its rosettes of stiff, incurved leaves bear conspicuous black spines; they turn reddish in drought. It is a winter-rainfall plant, so growers should water it mostly in the cooler months and keep it fairly dry through hot summers.
Where it grows wild
It grows on rocky slopes and in dry shrubland of the Succulent Karoo in Namaqualand, often wedged among rocks and boulders in full sun. Plants flush red under drought stress.
No elevations were recorded. Its range, around Springbok, Goegap and the Kamiesberg to Nieuwoudtville, lies mostly between roughly 300 and 1,000 m.
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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 Public domain licence, unmodified.