Aloe greatheadii

The name of the species was chosen in honor of Dr. Greathead, who collected and studied the first specimen. It is a beautiful stemless succulent plant, made up of a usually solitary rosette of fleshy leaves, very long and pointed, flat on the upper surface and adorned with reddish-brown teeth along the margins. The foliage takes on a characteristic intense green color, rather light, enriched by elongated white spots arranged in asymmetrical bands, which is why it is considered, together with other species, part of the subgroup “Aloe maculata”. In warm periods, all the long stems bloom beautiful inflorescences in shades of pink or reddish-orange. Perhaps not many know that the juice of the leaves of this Aloe, used by the African natives for food, is still used as an ointment to treat minor burns or wounds!