Weird stuff! When it finally gets to its mature form, it will be incredible to see three spirals all in one mound!

How do you keep the roots cool with it in a pot? I've read that hot soil will kill these guys, and judging by the appearance of every last plant I've seen for sale in local nurseries, I would agree. Any of them in black plastic pots that receive direct sun always appear to be on death's door. Those that are behind other plants, and therefore shielded from the sun always look much, much better.

For some reason, unusual pupping/branching is relatively common in cloned pFor some reason, unusual pupping/branching is relatively common in cloned plants. I have seen numerous examples of this odd behavior. It almost never occurs in plants grown from seed. Alan Beverly (Ecotree Nursery in Santa Cruz CA) still produces his plants by hand pollination, and discards many of the seedlings. Although the clones are a direct threat to his business, his concerns about lack of genetic variability and "hybrid vigor" may be justified:

A.P. Letter

My first two polys came from Alan's nursery back in 2002. I bought three more of couple of years ago that were made by tissue culture, and were too cheap to pass up. They are doing doing fine in tall black containers, but I do protect the pots from direct sun. No unusual behavior so far.

The new clones have dramatically driven the price down for this formerly rare plant. They don't seem to have the normal wild-type growth habit, and lack of genetic variability may prove a problem someday. The species is not self-fertile, so there can be no sexual reproduction of the clones.

I agree that Keith's plant will be spectacular with its three heads in a few years, however. I would have bought it too :)

Jo, growing these in SoCal is a challenge. Planting in the ground in raised beds is best. To grow in containers, you must find a way to keep the root temperature below 90F. That's easy to do here in the Bay area, but not so much down South.

Two of mine:

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These are just spectacular plants and really beautiful photos. Incredible foliage *and* flowers!!! And frost hardy no less! Thanks for that post Para, interesting stuff. I may just have to give one a shot (again).

celsus,
I always love to see your beauties!

I have 3 tissue cultured plants and each has branched, also have 12 seedgrown all solitary. The 6n diameter plants are kept in 2gal green pots and placed on the north side of the growing beds that way the containers are shaded and the tops get plenty of sun.

They are frost hardy!

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In the summer I water mine every morning after everything else, so that it gets the cold water after the water in the exposed hose is flushed out. I do the same in the evening, to cool it down. When days are sunny and above 80oF, I sometimes water 3 or more times daily to keep the roots cool.

x

That has got to be on my top-ten list of succulent plant photos!

That's an interesting and unusual form, Keith.

I saw a nice specimen in flower at last year's Cabrillo College sale--probably one of Alan's plants

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Would anyone here have any Aloe Polyphylla seeds they'd be willing to share? I'd like to grow a few for myself and share with friends. This is the most beautiful species I've seen and as of yet I don't own one. tourquoia@hotmail.com

I wouldnt worry too much about Aloe hybrid vigor-they seem to be actually energized by being crossed. And for California all the crosses and clones wont harm wild Aloe polyphylla.

Stan, I think you missed my point. I was only talking about possible negative effects of tissue-cultured plants on the cultivated population. None of this effects the diminishing wild population.

Comments about 'hybrid vigor' refer to the complete absence of genetic variability in the new tissue culture produced clones. Alan Beverly's concerns about them 'lacking hybrid vigor' comes from the fact that the species is a 'obligate out-crosser'. Alan throws out the weakest 25% of his seedlings, maintaining the genetic variability and 'vigor' of the wild-type while in cultivation.

Since the species in cultivation was formerly rare and expensive, and plants now offered for sale are predominately the inexpensive clones, over time the variable 'wild' genotype may be completely overwhelmed by the identical cloned genotype. We already know that the growth habit of the clones is different than the wild type. Lack of genetic variablity in any population is a prescription for failure.

The wild population Lesotho is almost extinct, and it is illegal to export plants or seeds from wild populations. If one of the goals of cultivation is to maintain the genotype of endangered species, the recent predominance of cloned plants does threaten the quality of the cultivated population. Just try to get seed by crossing of two identical clones. :)

Fayne,

I'm guessing seeds for this Aloe are probably hard to come by & not cheap either.

I suggest if you'd like these seeds, you pls. do search for nurseries who have it & then BUY some seed from them.

Try Mesa Gardens for seed, I got mine from there about 5yrs ago and have 11 nice plants now.