Aloidendron barberae seen from the Boomslang

The large, dichotomous branches of Aloidendron barberae form a rounded crown when not impeded by other trees.

The leaves are long, narrow and arching down. Arranged in terminal rosettes, the leaves are dark green and smooth with no surface spines. Small teeth, cartilaginous, whitish and sometimes brown tipped, are evenly spaced along the up-curved margins.

As the plant ages and the branch tip rosettes multiply in number, the leaves become shorter than on the young plants; similar to the likelihood of finding the children hungry in large households where the income hasn’t kept pace with the continued arrival of more children.

One wonders whether the population in nature still competes with the large numbers of this popular plant in cultivation. Fortunately cuttings grow so easily that plants in habitat should be comparatively safe from horticultural predators (Jeppe, 1969; Coates Palgrave, 2002).