Aloe cryptopoda

Aloe cryptopoda is a stemless aloe that grows a large, dense rosette of dark green leaves, ascending and oblong. The leaf margins are armed with small, sharp, triangular teeth, dark brown to black in colour. The leaf-sap is honey-coloured. 

Each inflorescence is a panicle branched into three to eight erect racemes. Some specimens have perianths that turn yellow from red once they open, otherwise red or yellow throughout. The plant is commonly known in Afrikaans as geelaalwyn. The inflorescences in Limpopo may stand 2,5 m tall, in Botswana much smaller and usually have fewer branches.

The specific name, cryptopoda, is derived from the Greek words kruptos meaning secret or hidden and podos meaning a foot, referring to the pedicels of the perianths or flowers that are concealed beneath large, leafy bracts.

The species distribution in South Africa is widespread in the provinces north of the Vaal River and beyond the South African border to Malawi. 

The habitat is rocky slopes in open woodland. Due to data deficiency the population stability of this species is uncertain early in the twenty first century. A. cryptopoda is related to both A. wickensii and A. lutescens (Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).