Aloidendron barberae stem base

Aloidendron barberae is a tree aloe, just look at its trunk! And tree aloes are these days in the Aloidendron genus, no longer in Aloe. The thickset stem base seen here has been growing steadily for a long time in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden. Exposed to sun here, the tree in habitat typically has other vegetation around it in the forested mountain slopes and kloofs.

The bark on the large trunk, up to 3 m in diameter at the base, is greyish pale brown and slightly rough to the touch; depending on how one defines or experiences rough and smooth.

Expansion brings shallow fissuring, the thin, irregularly shaped, buff patches surrounded by pale grey underbark. Flaking from the surface doesn’t seem to be happening much, while fluting of the base is present, likely to increase with further growth.

This tree branched low down long ago, but it was probably planted from a cutting, which may have induced early bifurcation (Smith, et al, 2002).