Plants erect (to decumbent in age). Stems branching, to 40 cm. Leaves rosulate, 20–25 × 9–12 cm; blade light green to slightly glaucous, white-spotted, triangular-ovate to lanceolate, glabrous, margins whitish, spiny-toothed, teeth ca. 5 mm apart. Inflorescences racemose, maroon to slightly glaucous, divided distally into 5–10 arching branches, 4–9 dm; each branch with racemes 5–8 cm; bracts scarious, persistent. Flowers: perianth red, 2.5–3.2 cm; tepals almost entirely connate, limb lobes ovate; stamens 6, included, slightly unequal, as long as perianth tube; stigmas not expanded; pedicel 1.5–3 cm. Capsules brown, oblong, 2–3 cm. Seeds 3-winged, ca. 5 mm, sterile.
Phenology: Flowering spring.
Habitat: Open sage scrub
Elevation: 0–100 m
Distribution
Introduced; Calif., South Africa.
Discussion
as species
Aloe ×schonlandii is a common natural hybrid, found growing wild with its parents, A. saponaria (Aiton) Haworth and A. striata Haworth, both of South Africa. It has long been in cultivation and is reported to have first been planted in the flora area in La Jolla, California, in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Since then it has spread and become firmly established in that area. The plants are apparently sterile and propagate only vegetatively.
Selected References
None.