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Aloe congolensis (Congo Aloe) - A small clustering aloe to 6 to 8 inches tall with tight 5-inch-wide rosettes on stems that lie along the ground to 2 feet long with short bright green shiny wedge-shaped plastic-like hard leaves that have a slight recurved tip and large sharp teeth - leaves take on a reddish-brown cast when drought or cold stressed. In late fall to early winter and sometimes later in spring appear 1-foot-tall unbranched inflorescence with reddish-orange flowers. Grows slowly and offsets to form a nice small dense groundcover and makes a nice potted specimen or even a hanging basket plant.
Plant in full sun (best color) to light shade and irrigate occasionally. Not very cold hardy and can get badly damaged in temperatures much below 30 F. This is an interesting plant that can make a nice potted or rock garden specimen.
The name Aloe congolensis is not a verified species name but this plant has long been offered and passed around under this name which was first used by De Wildeman and T. Durand in 1899 but this name is often noted as “imperfectly known or doubtful” as Gilbert Reynolds does in “Aloes of Tropical Africa and Madagascar”. The entry for this plant in this book notes that the plants first described came from sandy bush near Kimuenza in the Congo and that it may be conspecific with Aloe buettneri, though images of this plant look much different and Aloe buettneri is described as having wider leaves and a bulb-like swelling not apparent in the plants known as Aloe congolensis. This name also does not appear in Aloes: The Definite Guide published in 2011. Our plants came from the UCSB Biology Greenhouse collection. We first began growing this nice looking smaller aloe in 2011 but it was particularly prone to aloe mite damage, and we discontinued production of it in 2013.
This information about Aloe congolensis 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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