Aloe gariepensis taking high ground

This out of season stand of Aloe gariepensis has what it takes. Rooted on the slope and brow of its hill with a view, this is the existential allotment. Enablement and limitation have left their marks, successful in this place to this time, sacrifices unknown.

Leaf juice and patient endurance are their key assets. Togetherness may be a bonus. In most years the environment contributes patterned changes in ambient temperature and moisture levels, sufficient for them to be successful. Believe it or not, the combination of internal and external factors annually triggers a moment after winter rain for the rested, prepared plant bodies to erupt in flowering fulfilment.

A. gariepensis has its particular way of completing a growth cycle. And so has every metabolising entity around it. The living world is an elaborating set of specific definitions of nature's expression. Every species adheres to its rules for flourishing in its inimitable way. The result? Nature, a composite miracle.

The photo was taken near Upington (Frandsen, 2017; Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; iNaturalist).