PlantFiles: Aloe
Aloe harlana

Actually grows great outdoors here in So Cal in 9b zone... nice looking Aloe with flat, wide dark green leaves and long, linear flecking of white to lime stripes. It has a short stem and is slow to sucker (if ever- usually a solitary species). Has sharp teeth along the plastic-like stiff leaves. Flowers are in spring or fall and yellow-orange to dark red and branched, usually 3-6 branches.

This aloe is often confused with the much more common, and much smaller Aloe hemingii, which has slightly more promintent spotting and pink flowers all year round. Aloe harlana is about 1'-1.5' in diameter and is nearly always solitary, while Aloe hemingii is only about 6" in diameter and is a prolific offsetter. Aloe somaliensis also looks a lot like these other two aloes, especially when young, but tends to be a bit less prominently spotted as a mature plant and is about halfway inbetween the sizes of the other two. It also is usually solitary.

Greenhouse grown in 10a, slow growing very nice shape and attractive coloring to this Aloe. GREAT orange/red flower show in mid-late summer. Will sunburn if exposed to full hot 9b sun if moving from greenhouse to outside for summer, so aclimate it slowly for some fresh air in the summer months.