Distinctive single-stemmed South African tree aloe to about 6 feet tall with spike-like inflorescences. Leaves are green, channeled, and strongly recurved. Inflorescences are tall and unbranched, with short, bell-shaped yellow flowers on racemes to 2.5 feet tall. This species was described as Urginea alooides and later moved to Notosceptrum. It was subsequently described as Aloe recurvifolia but the older name takes precedence. This plant looks similar to A. thraskii, which also has channeled and recurved leaves, but its inflorescence is unbranched (thraskii's may have 4-8 branches), its racemes are taller (thraskii's are about 10 inches, a third the height), and its flowers are much shorter (thraskii's are about an inch, nearly 3 times the length).

Reply to this comment