Aloe perfoliata in rocky habitat

Groups of Aloe perfoliata rosettes form naturally by sideshoots growing on stems from below the leafy parts at the tips. This clump was photographed in the Caledon Wildflower Garden near the Window Rock where they were undisturbed in natural habitat due to the conservation actions of many people.

It is too early to expect flowers in October as this species is summer blooming, unlike many Cape aloes. The inflorescence of this species usually reaches 40 cm to 60 cm, the panicle typically branching into two to five capitate, densely flowered racemes. The corollas of the individual flowers, the perianths are slightly curved, cylindrical but tending towards a three-angled shape. Both the inner and outer whorls of three corolla segments each are free from each other to the base, the outer ones cohering in their lower halves. The flower colour is dull scarlet.

Reynolds (1974) writes about a series of six doubtful variations of A. mitriformis, now A. perfoliata, stating that regarding this Aloe merely as a variable species is best, dropping varieties created in narrowly defined horticultural conditions, never to be seen in nature.