Aloe marlothii / 5 seeds (Mountain aloe, flat-flowered aloe)

Aloe marlothii is an extremely striking, large, single-stemmed aloe native to the rocky regions and open flat countryside of Southern Africa. It’s a perennial, evergreen, succulent and is named after H.W. Rudolf Marloth, a South African botanist of German origin.

It has an especially large and strong head made of large, stiff, grey-green leaves which can grow up to 1.5m in length and 25cm in width, and are typically covered in short spines on the convex lower surfaces and less on the concave upper surfaces. They also have maroon-colored teeth along the margins and orange tips. Just like several other arborescent aloe species, Aloe marlothii is spinier when it is small and becomes taller and less vulnerable to grazing, losing many of its spines from its leaves’ surfaces. Its trunk is normally densely covered by the withered old leaves with upper living leaves. The plant’s stem is usually solitary, but sometimes suckers to form small groups of plants. Like most aloes, the plant blooms in winter. The inflorescence is a panicle with many branches and up to 30 or sometimes 50 racemes. Colors of flowers vary a lot from orange (this is the most common color) through yellow to bright red. The uniquely horizontal branches of the inflorescence are an easy way to differentiate Aloe marlothii from other aloe species. Due to this characteristic, it’s sometimes called flat-flowered aloe, although the type called Aloe spectabilis features taller, less horizontal inflorescences. The densely arranged flowers tend to point upwards from the raceme. The flowers are rich in nectar and hence attract sunbirds. When it’s not in flower, Aloe marlothii looks much similar to and can be easily confused with its close relative Zimbabwe Aloe and similar-looking Cape Aloe and African Aloe species of the south.

Aloe marlothii can be easily propagated through seeds which germinate in around 3 weeks. Seeds of Aloe marlothii are thin and papery and are scattered in gusts of winds and vortexes, and also by people who use the plant and through garden plants, bordering wild areas.

Being a summer rainfall species, Aloe marlothii thrives under warm wet summers and warm to cool, dry winters. In cultivation, it can tolerate additional watering in summer as well as winter rainfall gardens and usually as a result may look quite different from the specimens occurring in nature (such as leaves may look lighter green and less thorny). It is not required to deprive your plant of water.

However, you should remember that overwatering may slowly deteriorate your plant’s health. Excessive overwatering may cause rot. Over-inflated leaves may indicate overwatering. Underwatering may be indicated by thin, harder, less green leaves. It’s a good practice to water once a week for the first month after planting and reduce watering after that. If the plants are well-established, they can survive without water for several months. It survives well without water in coastal Californian gardens. Make sure you don’t overwater if your soil is heavy clay. One quarter of river sand and one quarter of compost mixed in equal amounts will improve drainage of such a soil.

Aloe marlothii occurs from the Klipriviersberg Nature Reesrve in Johannesburg, North-West Province, Gauteng, Limpopo, Swaziland, Mpumulanga, Zimbabwe, through eastern Botswana, eastwards through Mozambique and Eswatini to the coast and northwards over the Southpansberg to Zimbabwe to KwaZulu-Natal north of Durban. Even in this region, it most commonly occurs in mountainous areas, because of which it got its name bergalwyn or ‘mountain aloe’.

Being a succulent, Aloe marlothii is well suited to prolonged periods of drought, due to its water stocks in stem and leaves.

In its natural habitat, Aloe marlothii mainly in rocky terrains where temperatures are warmer and frost infrequent. However, at high altitudes the plant doesn’t occur in very cold areas, but it shows tolerance to frost. It’s hardy to 20-degree F of temperature, hence can’t handle winters well. You should bring your plant indoors during colder months if its outdoors or cover it with plastic frames or glass boxes to keep them warm.