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Aloe alooides, also known as graskop aloe or
graskopaalwyn which in Afrikaans means grass head aloe, is native
to dolomite soils in the high moist mountains of Mpumalanga, or Eastern
Transvaal. It is one of the South African tree aloes, and has often
been confused with A. thraskii, which is a coastal species. It
is called 'alooides,' which means 'resembling an aloe,' because it was
originally in a different genus, having been given the name Urginia
alooides and then later Aloe recurvifolia. The single usually
unbranched stem can be as much as 7' tall and the mature leaves are
long, strongly recurved, and armed with reddish-brown teeth. The upper
part of ther stem is often covered with old dried leaves. Up to five
long slender inflorescences may be borne from a single stem, and the
flowers are small, bell-shaped and yellow in color.
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