Into the Veld: The fan aloe 🪴

In our Fynbos Gardens one can find a few fan aloes or waaieraalwyne, known as Kumara plicatilis and previously Aloe plicatilis.

The name comes from the fan shape its leaves form, and fan aloes don a greyish blue green colour to protect them from the intense summer sunlight making it a true fynbos icon specie.

This aloe is one of the only ones to produce a corky bark which protects its inner core against veld fires common to fynbos regions and happens every 8 to 12 years. The leaves will scorch away, but will regrow from the burnt stem with the first rain.

They are coming into flower late winter to spring with beautiful drooping scarlet tubular flowers tub which bring a lot of sunbirds to your garden. The birds will perch on the flowers and pollinate them. After the flowers have been pollinated the fruit capsules will turn upright, releasing very light seeds when winds blow.

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