Aloes
The Diversity of Aloes
Aloes come from the dry and warm eastern and southern regions of
Africa, from Arabia, and from Socotra Island; they have been widespread
in the Mediterranean area since ancient times.
The genus Aloe
includes more than 180 species and presents a great variety of forms.
Some species are almost lacking in trunk and they have a tuft of basal
leaves; others have an arboreal bearing, with a variously branched
trunk with the tuft of leaves at its top, from which a simple or
branched inflorescence stands out. The leaves are plump, more or less
dentate or thorny along the edges. The flowers are red or yellow, with
six elements gathered in a tube. They bloom from winter to summer.
Aloes are interfertile: many species can hybridize one with the other,
originating individuals with intermediate and gradually shading
morphological features.
In
nature the hybrids are not so frequent; they are more frequent in
gardens where individuals of different species, which in nature are
geographically isolated, are cultivated next one to the other.
