Aloe pretoriensis

Aloe pretoriensis grows a 1 m long stem below the leaf rosette by the time it is old. This stem may be bare from past veld fires, otherwise densely covered in old dead leaves. The solitary plants are known for their tall, slender inflorescences that may stand more than 3 m tall.

The solitary blue-green leaf rosette comprises 40 to 60 leaves. The leaves are lanceolate-acuminate, i.e. lance-shaped and tapering slowly to a long, sharp tip. The upper leaf surface is nearly flat while the lower one is rounded, the distance between the surfaces filled with the succulence characterising Aloe leaves. Only the margins of this aloe's leaves are armed with sharp, reddish, hard teeth. The leaf sap is pale yellow. Leaf colour is grey-green or bluish green, glaucous.

The species distribution is in Gauteng from Pretoria eastwards to Mpumalanga and northwards to Limpopo, also Swaziland and Zimbabwe. The specific epithet still links the plant to Pretoria, the western end of the species distribution, serving as a reminder, once the city has fully morphed into Tshwane. May and June flowering can be a spectacular feature of the veld near Roossenekal and Lydenburg.

The habitat is rocky grassland outcrops, ridges and slopes in full sun at elevations from 600 m to 1500 m. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century.

A. christianii of tropical Africa is a similar plant (Frandsen, 2017; Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).