Aloe suprafoliata

Aloe suprafoliata, commonly the book-leaved aloe or the book aloe and in Afrikaans the boekaalwyn (book aloe), is usually solitary and stemless or a short stem may be present, up to 50 cm long. This is an attractive aloe that flowers early in the colder season than many aloes. It becomes about 1 m tall or sometimes slightly taller.

The leaves, about 30 of them forming the dense rosette on a mature plant, are slenderly lance-shaped, tapering to acutely pointed tips. Red-brown marginal teeth are spaced, triangular in shape, sometimes two-tipped. The leaves are sometimes strongly recurved, otherwise about straight. 

The species distribution is in northern KwaZulu-Natal, a little into southeastern Mpumalanga and eSwatini. The photo was taken in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden.

The habitat is cool, rocky grassland slopes and bushveld, often at high altitude, from 300 m to 1600 m. Mist and cloud are typical of this environment. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

The leaves have been or still are used for snuff. This is an attractive garden plant that needs water in summer and thrives in full sun. Given the plant's affinity for rocky grassland rockeries would be good spots to position them (Pooley, et al, 2025; Frandsen, 2017; Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Pooley, 1998; Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).