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Aloe labworana (Labwor Hills Aloe) - A stemless sparsely suckering plant with compact rosettes that have 20 to 30 inch long by 4-inch-wide leaves that are first erect then spreading and recurved. The leaves are an attractive blue green to gray color with tiny reddish brown teeth along the margins and often (but not always) have white spots on both upper and lower surfaces. In fall appear the yellow flowers held upright in open much branched racemes.
Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil and irrigated occasionally to infrequently. Cold hardy to around 25° F. A very attractive aloe with decorative foliage that is particularly nice when grown hard, which adds a stress induced reddish-brown color to the foliage, and makes a great foil to the yellow flowers.
Aloe labworana occurs in the Karamoja Mountains in Uganda and up into the Imatong Mountains in southern Sudan where it grows on rocky outcrops which, because of rock quarrying in that area, makes this species near threated. 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 comes from the name of the type locality in the Labwor Hills of western Karamoja, Uganda. In Uganda it is often planted for its ornamental flowers and commonly called Kikaka (Soga language), Kigagi (Luganda language) Atakarach (Lou language) and Ecucuka (Ngakaramojong language). It is closely related to Aloe schweinfurthii from which it differs in having longer recurved leaves with larger marginal teeth and a more branched and denser raceme of yellow flowers instead of the red flowers of Aloe schweinfurthii. The leaves of Aloe labworana are often spotted as well, which is a trait not shared by Aloe schweinfurthii.
The seed for our crops, which we have offered since 2017, was collected near Namakoro, Uganda and supplied to us by Tom Cole of Cold Springs Aloes. Information about this plant from Aloes of Uganda; A Field Guide by Tom Cole and Tom Forrest.
This information about Aloe labworana 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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