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Aloe deltoideodonta - This stemless or short-stemmed Aloe produces pups from the base to make a cluster of rosettes with pale green 6 to 8 inch long by 2-inch-wide leaves with prominent darker-green parallel lines and straw-colored margins. It occasionally is shy to bloom but every so often it can surprise you in late summer with a good show of short-branched or unbranched conical inflorescence with green-tipped pale orange flowers that open to near white and reflex downward.
Plant in full sun to light shade in a well-drained soil and water occasionally in summer months. We have had this plant outside during cold nights to 25 F without any damage but it suffers in overly wet winters so soil drainage is critical. This is an attractive plant for a small to medium sized container or in a well-drained spot in the dry garden.
Aloe deltoideodonta comes from rocky sandstone hills from 2,100 to 2,600 feet elevation in the mountainous Fianarantsoa province of southern central and southwest Madagascar. The specific epithet 'deltoideodonta' means "triangular teeth" in reference to the shape of the teeth on the leaf margin and the varietal name 'candicans' meaning "whitish" (or becoming white) is likely in reference to the flower color which fades to near white.
We received this plant from Aloe hybridizer John Bleck as Aloe deltoideodonta var. candicans in the mid 1990's and have seen it in many other collections under this name. Some note that the foliage more closely resembles what is described as Aloe deltoideodonta v. fallax but there is some disagreement over the varietal names in the Aloe deltoideodonta group, which some believe are not just one species, but a species complex. This is discussed in Jean-Bernard an Jean Philippe Castillon's Aloes of Madagascar, which includes arguments made that Aloe deltoideodonta is itself a form of Aloe madecassa. In this book the description and images of Aloe deltoideodonta v. fallax more closely match this plant, but in Aloes: The Definitive Guide a distinguishing characteristic of Aloe deltoideodonta var. candicans is that it has conspicuous white bracts, which our plant certainly has. In the December 2014 issue of Adansonia (the journal of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris) Jean-Philippe Castion renamed this variety from Aloe deltoideodonta variety fallax, a name first published by his father, to Aloe horombensis subsp. fallax. We are open to suggestions on which name to use for this attractive plant that we have grown since 2003.
This information about Aloe deltoideodonta 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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