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Aloe maculata 'Monstrose' (Monster Soap Aloe) - A stemless plant that grows to 18 inches tall and 2 feet wide and suckers freely to form a good-sized clump. The foliage is dark green at the tips with a reddish blush, while closer to the leaf base the color fades to a light green and is marked by faint white spots and the margins of the leaves are lined with brown teeth. In most respects this plant looks like the common soap aloe but in addition it has raised longitudinal ridges that run the length of the leaves on the upper surface and overall the plant appears to be more robust. The pale salmon-orange flowers appear in late summer in capitate heads on branched inflorescences over a long period.
Plant in a well-drained soil in full sun where foliage color and flowering is best but grows well in part sun too. This drought tolerant plant needs little irrigation. Hardy to about 20 degrees F.
The species was long called Aloe saponaria, a name based on the use of this plant for soap in its native South Africa. The current epithet 'maculata' meaning "spotted" is in reference to the white spots on the leaves. In "Aloes: The Definitive Guide" it is noted that the type locality of this wide-spread species is not known but it can be found growing in grasslands, scrub vegetation and rocky outcroppings from near the coast up into the Drakensberg Mountains from the Cape Peninsula east through the Cape Provinces into KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. Our plant from the collection of Stockton succulent collector Alice Waidhofer whose tag indicates that she purchased the plant in 1998 from the late Rick Nowakowski's Natures Curiosity Shop. For more information about the species see our listing of for Aloe maculata.
The information displayed on this page about Aloe maculata 'Monstrose' is based on the research we conducted about it in our nursery horticultural library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include some of our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops 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 additional information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.
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