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Aloe castellorum - A medium-sized vase-shaped aloe with mostly solitary or dichotomously branching rosettes of up-turned pale green 12- to 18-inch-long leaves that have green teeth that darken with age. The inflorescences, branching from near their middle rise 2 to 3 feet above the leaves in late summer and fall, bearing waxy greenish-yellow flowers that at first point outwards as buds then lie flat against the spike when open.
Plant in full sun to light shade. This dry growing species requires little irrigation in our California gardens and is reported to be hardy to 28 F. This recently described plant was discovered at fairly high elevations (4500 to 8000 feet) form Al Bahah in southwestern Saudi Arabia south along west facing slopes of the Great Arabian Escarpment into Yemen, where plants receive a fair amount of fog. It is noted as similar to Aloe vacillans and the range of the two overlap, but Aloe castellorum has shinier greener leaves and Aloe vacillans, with its typical pale orange flowers, is often found is drier areas. Also growing with these two species is Aloe rubroviolacea and Dracaena serrulata. A plant described by John Lavranos and Sheila Colenette in 2000 as Aloe hijazensis has more recently been shown to be conspecific with Aloe castellorum. We sold this plant from 2012 until 2014 and our plants from seed supplied by Brian Kemble of the Ruth Bancroft Garden that was from hand pollinated plants in cultivation.
This information about Aloe castellorum 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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