Aloe aculeata
Pole-Evans
Red hot poker aloe
(c) Ryan van Huyssteen, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Ryan van Huyssteen
(c) John Rusk, some rights reserved (CC BY)
(c) Alan Horstmann, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Alan Horstmann
What to Eat
Edible parts: ? Medicine
Where to Find It
It is a subtropical plant. It grows in grassland and rocky bushveld.
Africa, Mozambique, South Africa, Southern Africa, Zimbabwe,
How to Identify
An aloe. It is a herb without a stem. The leaves are in a ring. They are 30-60 cm long and 9-14 cm wide near the base. They have spines. They have reddish-brown prickles.
Medicinal Uses
Used in traditional medicine.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Aloe aculeata (common names include ngopanie, sekope, red hot poker aloe) is an Aloe species that is native to the Limpopo valley and Mpumalanga in South Africa along with southern and central Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It grows on rocky outcrops in grassland and dry bushveld. Aculeata ("prickly") refers to the spines on the leaf's surface and the teeth on its margins. The plant's leaves reach 30 to 60 cm (12 to 24 in) tall. Flowers are reddish orange to yellow when in bud, opening to orange to yellow, and 23 to 40 mm (0.91 to 1.57 in) long. Aloe aculeata was depicted on the reverse of the South African 10 cent coin from 1965-1989. The plant can also be viewed in the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens.
Notes
Also put in the family Asphodelaceae.
Names & Synonyms
Ngopanie, Sekope
References (1)
- World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
