Aloe arborescens Mill., Aloeaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: candelabra aloe, candelabra plant, ocotopus aloe, octopus plant, torch plant

Maori (Cook Islands): ‘āroe, ‘āroe, ‘āroe, ‘āroevera, ‘ārovera

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Plants tall, many branched, arborescent shrubs 2-3 m high and about as broad.  Stem up to 30 cm diameter at base, many branched and rebranched from the base or higher, old dried leaves persistent for 30-60 cm below the terminal rosettes of leaves, the rosettes up to 80 cm in diameter.  Leaves many in a dense rosette, erectly-spreading to spreading and somewhat falcately deflexed, rather fleshy, averaging about 50-60 cm long, 5-7 cm broad at  base, gradually narrowing to the apex; upper surface usually flat, without spots or lines, dull green to grey-green; lower surface convex, dull green; margins armed with firm (not horny or pungent) pale teeth 3-5 mm long, 5-20 mm distant, the teeth usually curved forward, smaller and more crowded ear base, larger and more distant upwards.  Inflorescence usually simple, sometimes with a short branch, about 80 cm high including the raceme, 2-4 simultaneously from a rosette.  Peduncle usually arcuate-erect, with several broadly deltoid slightly fleshy to sub-scarious many-nerved sterile bracts about 20 mm long, 15 mm broad.  Racemes varying from conical (broader and shorter) to elongate-conical (narrower and longer), 20-30 cm long, about 10-12 cm in diameter, densely flowered, the apical buds densely congested and forming an acuminate apex, open flowers a little laxer.  Bracts: lowest ovate-acute to obtuse, 15-20 mm long, 10-12 mm broad, thin, sub-scarious, many-nerved, basally amplexicaul.  Pedicels:  the lowest 35-40 mm long.  Perianth: nearest scarlet, cylindric-trigonous, exceedingly slightly trigonously constricted above the ovary, enlarging very lightly towards the throat, averaging 40 mm long; outer segments free to base, obscurely nerved, apices sub-acute slightly spreading; inner segments free, not cohering to the outer, broader than the outer, white, and with a keel the colour of the perianth turning greenish near apex, apices more obtuse and more spreading than the outer.  Filaments filiform-flattened, the 3 inner narrower and lengthening in advance of the 3 outer.  Anthers:  the 3 inner and 3 outer in turn exserted up to 5 mm.  Stigma at length exserted 5 mm.  Ovary 9-10 mm long, 3 mm diameter, finely 6-grooved, green"  (Reynolds, 1982; pp. 407-409).

Habitat/ecology:  In southern Africa, "from sea level...to altitudes of over 6,000 ft, always in rocky places, sometimes in dense bush, and at times on bleak exposed mountain sides, mostly in areas receiving 25-50 inches annual rainfall" (Reynolds, 1982; pp. 407-409).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Southern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland) (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Aitutaki Atoll	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2008)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	‘Atiu Island	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2008)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Mangaia Island	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2008)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Ma‘uke Island	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2008)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Rarotonga Island	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced cultivated	Charles Darwin Research Station (2005)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Raulerson, L. (2006) (p. 20)
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Jaluit (Jãlwõj) Atoll	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 100)
Palau Palau (main island group)	Palau Islands (main island group)	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 100)
Palau Palau (main island group)	Palau Islands (main island group)	introduced	Lorence, David H./Flynn, Tim (1998) (p. 6)

Comments:  Reported as possibly an invasive plant in the Galápagos Islands per Charles Darwin Research Station.

Additional information:
Additional online information about Aloe arborescens is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Aloe arborescens as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Aloe arborescens may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1987. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian monocotyledonae. Micronesica 20:1-126.

Lorence, David H./Flynn, Tim. 1998. Checklist of the plants of Palau. Unpublished checklist. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Hawai‘i. 40 pp.

McCormack, Gerald. 2008. Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga.

Raulerson, L. 2006. Checklist of Plants of the Mariana Islands. University of Guam Herbarium Contribution 40:1-69. .

Reynolds, Gilbert Westacott. 1982. The aloes of South Africa. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2008. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.