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Aloe aristata (Lace Aloe) - A tight clustering succulent with dense rosettes forming mounds to 6 to 9 inches tall by 1 to 2 feet wide with thick fleshy triangular dark green leaves that have small white bumps and lacy leaf margins with soft white cilia-like teeth. A bit shy to bloom but has nectar rich salmon-orange inch and a half long tubular flowers on a few branched 1- to 2-foot-tall inflorescence in late spring and early summer.
Plant in full to part sun in a very well-drained soil. It is drought tolerant once established and over watering should be avoided as this can induce root rotting, particularly if overly wet in winter months. It is fairly cold hardy succulent plant, tolerating temperatures down to 15-20° F (some claim as low as 0° F). Can be grown as a houseplant if given very bright light and is a very nice plant outdoors in containers or in the succulent and rock garden; is particularly happy in a crevice type planting where winter moisture will be rapidly shed. Its flowers are attractive to people as well as to bees and hummingbirds. It was winner of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in 1994.
Aloe aristata grows naturally from desert lowland areas up to higher elevation grasslands and mountain slopes from the Karoo region of the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa east through the Free State into Lesotho. The name Aloe comes from ancient Greek name aloe that was derived from the Arabian word 'alloch' that was used to describe the plant or its juice that was used as medicine. The specific epithet is Latin meaning "bristly" or "having an awn" in reference to the awn-like white teeth along the leaf margin. Other common names include Guinea-fowl Aloe and Torch plant. The indigenous Basotho people of Lesotho called it called it "serelei" in their Sesotho language, which means "slippery one" and the Mpondo (AKA Pondo) people from the Eastern province of South Africa used it as a soap. Though long considered to be an Aloe species, in 2014 it was reclassified as a monotypic species (only species in the genus) in the new genus Aristaloe as it is was determined to be more closely related to the Aloe relatives Astroloba and Tulista (previously placed in Haworthia) than to other Aloes. So not to confuse our staff and our customers we have left it listed as an Aloe until the name Aristaloe aristata gets better recognized.
This information about Aloe aristata displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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