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Aloe marlothii "Utrecht form" (Red Mountain Aloe) - A unbranched large aloe that often grows to 10 feet tall with persistent old leaves making a skirt around the trunk and holding a heavy rosette of large thick gray-green leaves with reddish-brown spines along the margins and randomly on other parts of the leaf. In late fall to late winter appears the wide-spread branching inflorescence bearing red flowers – this darker color distinguishes this form from the orange to even orange-yellow flowers of the more typical forms of this species.
Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil. Requires little to no supplemental irrigation in coastal California gardens and is cold hardy to 20° F. A beautiful specimen succulent in the garden that is attractive in and out of flower. Aloe marlothii can easily be distinguished from all other single-stemmed aloes by the horizontal (or at least slanted) branching of the inflorescence and the racemes with erect flowers.
Aloe marlothii is a wide-ranging species from KwaZulu-Natal into Moçambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana and throughout its range there is considerable variability in flower color and shape of the inflorescence. 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 and the specific epithet commemorates the botanist H.W. Rudolf Marloth. Other common names often used for the Mountain Aloe include Spiny Aloe, Flat Flowered Aloe and the Africaner names Bergaalwyn and Boomaalwyn.
Our plants are from seed resulting from hand pollination of red flowering plants growing in a garden in north San Diego County that originated from seed collected at Utrecht, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa from a population with many red-flowered plants. We have also long grown the more typical form of the species that has lighter orange colored flowers which we list as Aloe marlothii.
The information displayed on this page about Aloe marlothii "Utrecht form" is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.
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