Here is a list of 13 East African Aloes that grow in one or more of the following places: tanzania, kenya, somalia, ethiopia, eritrea, south sudan, uganda
Aloe camperi is from Eretria in northeastern Africa south to Ethiopia at elevations ranging from 4,600 feet to 8,300 feet and was first described using this name in 1891 by Georg Schweinfurth, a German who lived in Riga in the Baltic Provinces of Russia, from a plant collected at about 4,600 feet in the Great Valley above Ghinda in Eritrea. Schweinfurth named Aloe camperi for his friend Manfedo Camperio, an Italian born resident of Eritrea. read more
It is found in nature only on rocky outcrops in dry bushland around 2,000 feet in southeastern Kenya, near the border with Tanzania. The name honors Russia born geologist George A. Classen who in settled in Nairobi Kenya and collected plants during his travels. Gilbert Westacott Reynolds named the plant for Classen in gratitude for help providing plants, data and photographs of this species and others. George Classen (1915 – 1982) was born in Russia and settled in Nairobi, Kenya. He botanized southern Kenya during the 1960s and 1970s while travelling professionally as a hydrologist, bringing a number of new succulent taxa (aloes, euphorbias, etc.) to the attention of botanists who subsequently described them as new to science. From southeastern Kenya, this species appears to be restricted to granitic domes at low elevations. read more
Dawe’s aloe is native to mountainous regions in Uganda, Congo, and Rwanda. It is named for Mr. Dawe, who was the curator of the Botanical Gardens at Entebbe, Uganda in the early 1900s. read more
Aloe dorotheae is native to northeastern Tanzania, where it is found on rocky ground above 600 m and is critically endangered by habitat loss to agriculture. Found originally near the south bank of the Pangani River and transferred as a live plant in 1890 to the Royal Botanic Garden in Berlin where it was described by Alwin Berger, who noted that the name honored a Miss Dorthy Westhead of London. read more
It is native to northern Ethiopia and Eritrea where it is very common on open stony slopes from 5,200 to 8,200 feet. This plant was described by the Italian botanist Agostino Todaro in 1882 from a plant grown from seed sent to him by the German botanist Wilhelm Schimper who collected it in the Tigray region around 1870 after settling in Ethipioa in 1836. The name refers to the overall elegant nature of this plant, particularly in reference to the attractive bright flower colors that range from yellow through orange to scarlet with all colors sometimes evident within a single population. read more
This beautiful high altitude Kenyan Aloe has a limited distribution along the Southern and Eastern slopes of Mount Elgon which is Africa’s oldest and largest volcano that is crossed by the Uganda and Kenya border. read more
Aloe harlana comes from grassy slopes from around 5,000 to 6,000 feet in elevation near the village of Harla in the Harerghe Province south of the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia. The name comes from the location (Harla, 9 miles East of Dive Dawa) where this plant was discovered by Gilbert Westacott Reynolds in 1957. read more
Aloe hildebrandtii is from Somalia and Ethiopia. The precise origin of this Somalian species was shrouded in mystery for nearly a century. Aloe authority G. W. Reynolds surmised that it was found in the mountains of northern Somalia based on Dr. Hildebrandt’s general account of his African Travels of 1873 and 1874. Subsequently, it was found to be fairly widely distributed in those mountains where it varies in flower color from yellow to pastel orange or even dull scarlet. read more
From the Kedong Valley, part of the Great Rift Valley system of Kenya, Aloe kedongensis is one of a group of closely related tetraploid aloes that all grow near each other in East Africa and share a recent common ancestor. The other aloes in this group are Aloe cheranganiensis, Aloe dawei, Aloe elgonica, and Aloe nyeriensis. The plant name refers to this plant being from the Kedong Valley, which was the site of an tragic massacre in 1895 involving tribal Swahili and Maasai with misinterpreted intervention by the British Army. This plant was first described by Gilbert Westacott Reynolds (1895-1967) in the Journal of South African Botany (v19 n4) in 1953. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine, source of dyes and as an aid to fermentation. read more
Aloe labworana occurs in the Karamoja Mountains in Uganda and up into the Imatong Mountains in southern Sudan where it grows on rocky outcrops which because of rock quarrying has makes this species near threated. The plant's name comes from it's endemic range in the Labwor Hills of western Karamoja, Uganda. In Uganda it is often planted for its ornamental flowers. It is native to rocky outcrops in the mountains of northern Uganda and southern South Sudan between 1300 and 1500 m. read more
This species is from east-central Africa, centered on Malawi and extending northwards and southwards where it grows on grassy rocky slopes at altitudes between 1,800 and 6,000 feet. The plant name honors Captain A.H. Maw, on whose property in Malawi the type specimen was collected. read more
It comes from near Erigavo near the Gulf of Aden in the Sanaag region of Somaliland. The name comes from the Latin words 'scobina' meaning a 'rasp' and 'folia' meaning 'leaves' in reference to the rough texture of the surface of the leaves that gives this plant its unusual dull gray-green coloration. Lives in areas of sparse vegetation and very low rainfall, but at altitudes up to 5000 feet. read more
Produces a beautiful inflorescence with flowers turned upright along mostly lateral flowering stalks (hence the species epithet). Aloe secundiflora is native to grassland and open woodland on rocky soils in Tanzania between 750 and 2000 m. In some areas, wild plants are harvested on a sustainable basis and the same plants can be used for many years. In areas where there is no established tradition of harvesting, wild plants are frequently destroyed while collecting the exudate. Its sap is widely used medicinally, the roots in brewing local beer. read more
