Family: Asphodelaceae
Common names: van balen's aloe, crawling octopus; van-balen-se-aalwyn; icenalamatshe, icenandhlovu (isiZulu); lihala (siSwati)
This is one of the most beautiful and distinctive aloes, with its long, twisted and recurved leaves resembling an octopus.
The almost stemless Aloe vanbalenii forms short, robust creeping stems, developing into dense groups of numerous rosettes, 300-600 mm tall. The soft-textured, deeply channelled, recurved leaves are 700800 × 120250 mm long, with the tips almost touching the ground. They are copper-red when exposed to full sun, with marginal teeth of the same colour and bright green when grown in shade. The leaves release a musty smell when damaged.
The inflorescence is about 1 m tall, and branches into 2 or 3, narrowly conical racemes, from about half way up the peduncle. The flower colour varies, from different shades of yellow and orange, but is usually red. The flowers are tubular, 30-40 mm long. Flowering occurs in winter
Aloe vanbalenii occurs in northern KwaZulu-Natal and in the southeastern part of Mpumalanga and adjacent areas in Swaziland, growing along the edges of exposed rock sheets or on rocky outcrops, in shallow soils, in bushveld vegetation, at an altitude of between 300600 m. This area is frost-free with moderately high summer rainfall.
The genus Aloe is derived from the Greek word aloé, which refers to the bitter juice that oozes out of the plants, when leaves are cut. Tracing it further back, the word aloe, is derived from a Semitic word alloeh. T
The leaves and fruits are eaten and this aloe is planted on royal family graves in Swaziland.
Horticulturally, the plants are used in raised planters and also planted in containers for them to stand out. With their attractive foliage, they make beautiful displays when planted in a rockery en masse, to create that effect.
