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| Category: Succulent |
| Family: Aloeaceae (now Asphodeloideae) |
| Origin: Yemen (Asia) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Red/Purple Foliage: Yes |
| Flower Color: Red |
| Bloomtime: Spring |
| Height: 1-2 feet |
| Width: 1-2 feet |
| Exposure: Full Sun |
| Summer Dry: Yes |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): No Irrigation required |
| Winter Hardiness: 20-25° F |
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Aloe dhufarensis (Dhofar Aloe) Unusual succulent to 18 inches tall with a solitary stemless 2 to 3 foot wide rosette of erect, slightly incurved very pale gray lance shaped leaves with no teeth along the leaf margin. The reddish flowers, appearing in mid to late spring, are held in conical racemes in a broad open sparingly branched inflorescence. Plant in full all day sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate very little with no additional water fall through spring - loses, when they occur, seem most often to be young plants in too moist conditions in winter. It is surprisingly cold hardy, reported as surviving winter temperatures down to 20°F. A unusual plant that is best for hot inland locations but can also grow well in a warm location in coastal gardens. Aloe dhufarensis is thought to be one of the most easterly occurring of the aloes, coming from the deserts of southern Oman west into southeast Yemen on the Saudi Arabian peninsula. It was first described by John Lavranos in the Fall 1967 issue of CSSA's Cactus and Succulent Journal (Vol.39 No.5) from when he visited the Dhufar Coast of Oman in January 1966 and described the habitat as along a limestone plateau near the entrance to Wadi Urzuq (a wadi is a streambed or seasonal watercourse) in the Dhofar Province in Oman. The specific epithet is in reference to this location in the Dhofar Province. It is distinguished from Aloe inermis, also found in the same area by its form and flowers and also because the leaves have orange sap while that of A. inermis is blue-black. This picture used on this page is from a painting of Aloe dhufarensis that was used in 2004 for a 50 Baisa postage stamp in the Wild Flowers in Oman Series for the Sultanate of Oman. Our original stock plants were grown from seed provided to us in 2010 by Brian Kemble, curator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. This seed resulted from hand-pollinating flowering plants that were in cultivation. Our continued production was from vegetative propagation of select seedlings from this first seed crop but this plant really wants to be somewhere hotter than Santa Barbara, so we are leaving it to others to continue to grow this species. We have selected an interesting open pollinated seedling plant from our seedlings that blushes pink and grows better in our coastal conditions and we plan to eventually introduce this plant as Aloe 'Dhofar Rose' - look for these in 2022 or 2023.
This information is based on research conducted about this plant in our nursery library and from reliable online sources. We also take into consideration observations of it in our nursery of crops, as well as of plants growing in the nursery's garden and those in other gardens we have visited. We will incorporate comments received from others and welcome getting feedback from anyone who may have additional information, particularly if it includes cultural information that would aid others in growing Aloe dhufarensis. |
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