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Aloe debrana - A stemless aloe that suckers from the base with dense rosettes of 20-inch-long lanceolate medium green colored leaves that are slightly recurved and have reddish-brown teeth along the leaf margin. In late winter to early spring appear the well branched inflorescences (often with secondary branches) that rise up to 3 feet above the foliage holding dense tightly held buds in 4-inch-long capitate clusters that open to display 1 inch long scarlet to rose colored flowers that have a slight tinge of yellow at the flared petal tips.
Plant in full sun to light shade (flowers best in full sun) in a well-drained soil and irrigate infrequently. Hardiness on this aloe is not well documented but it has grown well in the Huntington Gardens and at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, comes from a habitat at a fairly high elevation and is generally noted as fairly hardy, so we are listing it as hardy to 25F, but note that this is just an estimate as we can't test for temperatures below what we typically get to in Santa Barbara and we haven’t had a night much below freezing here since 2007. This should prove to be an easy to grow and attractive flowering aloe for the California garden. It is very attractive in flower in spring, which is particularly nice since it flowers a bit later than many other fall, winter and early spring flowering species. The foliage is a bit plain and not that distinctive, but the flowers are stunning.
Aloe debrana is widespread and locally abundant at altitudes between 6,500 and 8,900 feet in the mountainous areas of central to northern Ethiopia (Shewa, Gojam and Welo regions). The specific epithet is in reference to the type locality at Debre Berhan that was formerly spelled Debra-Berhan. In the Amharic language Debre Berhan means the 'place of the light'. This plant is well represented in the Desert Garden at the Huntington Botanic Garden, but sometimes tagged Aloe beharana, a name that also referenced the type locality and plants so named were described with larger flowers and bracts but are now considered to be within the possible variation of the earlier described Aloe debrana. Our plants from the Institute of Aloe Studies (IAS) as IAS 12-004 as Aloe berhana. We sold this plant from 2017 until 2022.
This information about Aloe debrana 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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