Aloidendron dichotomum growing tall

Stands of tall, few-branched Aloidendron dichotomum trees are to be seen in the Goegap Nature Reserve. The tendency is extreme in some of the plants, resembling their relative, A. pillansii that is found further north from the Brandberg in Namibia southwards to the Richtersveld in South Africa, probably no further south than Cornell’s Kop.

A. dichotomum grows on rocky slopes, never in the deep alluvial soils. The southerly extreme of its natural habitat is described by Reynolds (1974) as around the northern end of the Bokkeveld Mountains in the Zwart Doorn Valley, northwest of Brandkop on the road between Nieuwoudtville and Loeriesfontein. It grows on both sides of the Gariep River as far east as Upington, even Postmasburg and to the north in Namibia to Usakos.