Aloidendron dichotomum

Aloidendron dichotomum holds a place of honour in the minds of many. Some try to give it such a place in their gardens, but not too many succeed. At the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden in Worcester visitors can enjoy this beautiful planting of quiver trees. The problems involved in growing them are turned around into success stories here. The size and grace of these trees make visits memorable.

The repeated branching of the leaf rosettes into two halves, the hallmark of A. dichotomum, has already happened many times on an old tree. This results in a dense crown for the quiver tree, formed by the leaf rosettes. This is quite a sight when the tree is covered in yellow flowers in winter.

In Namaqualand a certain kind of weaver bird sometimes makes communal nests with hundreds of inhabitants residing in the crown of the quiver tree (www.plantzafrica.com).