Aloe mudenensis - Indigenous South African Succulent - 10 Seeds

Aloe is a genus containing about 400 species of flowering succulent plants. The most common and well known of these is Aloe vera, or "true aloe". The genus is native to Africa, and is common in South Africa's Cape Province, the mountains of tropical Africa, and neighbouring areas such as Madagascar, the Arabian peninsula, and the islands of Africa. Most Aloe species have a rosette of large, thick, fleshy leaves. The leaves are often lance-shaped with a sharp apex and a spiny margin. Aloe flowers are tubular, frequently yellow, orange, pink or red, and are borne, densely clustered and pendant, at the apex of simple or branched, leafless stems. Many species of Aloe appear to be stem less, with the rosette growing directly at ground level; other varieties may have a branched or unbranched stem from which the fleshy leaves spring. They vary in colour from grey to bright-green and are sometimes striped or mottled. Some Aloes native to South Africa are arborescent.

Aloe mudenensis is one of the most attractive species of spotted aloes, endemic to Muden and Karkloof in KwaZulu-Natal. Aloe mudenensis is an evergreen succulent that is short-stemmed, reaching up to 800 m high. The leaves are straight, broad, 175 – 350 × 50 – 90 mm, with a bluish green colour. The leaves have several scattered spots, especially on the upper surface. Aloe mudenensis inflorescence is branched, with up to 8 racemes, up to 1 m tall; racemes are dense, cylindri-conical, 175 mm long. Flower colour varies from yellowish-orange to red. Flowering occurs in winter to spring, depending where it grows.

USDA Zone - 9

Season to Sow - Spring