Aloe isn"t just that itch-relief ooze you buy at the supermarket. Aloes are some of the most splendid succulent plants in nature, coming in many shapes and colors. While the rubbery, gel-filled leaves of most aloe plants are long and spear-shaped, those of the pictured Aloe polyphylla species are stout and tightly set—one of many examples in nature of a near-perfect spiral. Commonly called spiral aloe, it"s a coveted garden plant with specific growing conditions that make it hard to keep alive. Even in nature it"s rare and native only to the chilly mountains of Lesotho, a tiny kingdom entirely surrounded by South Africa.
Why, aloe there
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Oh, the places you’ll go
-
A viewer with a view
-
Fallow deer, Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, England
-
Nature Photography Day
-
Hay, what s up?
-
The call of the wild in Alaska
-
A star blows a bubble
-
Füzér Castle in the Zemplén Mountains, Hungary
-
May the Fourth be with you…
-
Take the Stairs Day
-
Sanday Island and the North Sea, Scotland
-
The confluence of the Arve and Rhône Rivers
-
Burns Night
-
Nesting season for the leatherbacks
-
Bidding summer adieu
-
Brain coral
-
Children at play for International Day of Friendship
-
Uncommon clouds are gathering
-
Horseshoe Bend, Arizona
-
Shark Fin Cove, California
-
Sea fireflies at the seashore
-
It s superb owl Sunday
-
A storied trail marks a century
-
A look at Uranus, seventh planet from the sun
-
A stunning national park in winter white
-
Where can you find a red fox?
-
3,000 years of history
-
Flamingos of the Chilean desert
-
Rethymno, Crete, Greece
-
A crush in Lavaux