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Aloe volkensii ssp. volkensii - A moderately fast growing large bush or tree aloe that can grow to 10 to 20 feet or more in height with a trunk that becomes up to a foot thick with a stiffly erect stem that occasionally develops offsets that can become branches near the base, but is often more solitary. At the tips of the stems are rosettes of erect 2-foot-long narrow gray-green leaves that become spreading and somewhat recurved with age. The leaves have teeth along their margins with brownish tips and the older dead leaves dry and lay down appressed flat along the stems. The leaves are a uniform gray-green color, though juvenile seedling plants have occasional pale spots, and the cut leaves have yellow sap that dries to red. In mid to late winter appear the inch and a quarter long deep orange-red flowers that are erect in bud and pendulous when open on compact subcapitate racemes in a well branched erect 2-foot-tall inflorescence that rises above the leaves.
Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil with occasional to infrequent irrigation in a near frost free location. This central African aloe is not common in cultivation and its ultimate frost and drought tolerance has yet to be determined, but it has been reported to be cold hardy to short duration temperatures down to around 26° F with only some leaf damage. This is an incredibly showy and interesting slender tree-like aloe that should be grown more.
Aloe volkensii ssp. volkensii occurs from south-east Kenya and north-east Tanzania where it grows on steep rocky slopes, dry bushveld and dense riverine woodland from 30 feet in elevation to as high as around 6,000 feet in such places as the eastern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. 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 this plant's specific epithet honors the German botanist Georg Ludwig August Volkens (1855–1917), an explorer of the Kilimanjaro area and later curator of the Botanical Museum of Berlin. This plant has yet to have any English common name applied to it but has been called Mradune and Iratune in the Bantu dialect Chaga language.
We only have a few specimens of this beautiful plant in the nursery, all grown from cuttings of plants from Tom Cole of Cold Springs Aloes, and also grow the lower branching subspecies Aloe volkensii ssp. multicaulis that has and bicolored green and red flowers from seed provided to us by Tom Cole of Cold Spring Aloes.
The information displayed on this page about Aloe volkensii ssp. volkensii is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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