Aloe petricola Pole-Evans (1917)

DESCRIPTION: stemless aloe, solitary or forming groups, densely leaf rosette. Leaves 20-30, 60x10 cm, glaucous, brown teeth 5 mm long and 15 mm apart. The inflorescence vary in number on young to older plants, with younger plants only having one, but in older plants it can go to between three and four branches, in some cases up to six. Inflorescence to 1 m, racemes cylindrical, flowers cremy white, yellow or orange. The general bicoloured forms have red buds with the open flowers turning a greenish white. Flowering takes place in winter, between July and August.
DISTRIBUTION: RSA (Limpopo, Northern Prov.) Aloe petricola has a restricted range, found naturally only around Nelspruit in Mpumalanga, from Sabie to Barberton, westwards to Schoemanskloof and eastwards to Krokodilpoort and Pretoriuskop. It is found at altitudes ranging from 500 to 1 000 m or 1 650 to 3 300 m, on sandstone slopes and granite outcrops.
CULTIVATION: easy to grow. It is possible grow this plant on 20x20cm pot for long time.

Aloe petricola in cultivation	Aloe petricola in cultivation