Species · genus Aloe · Asphodelaceae

Dune Aloe

Aloe thraskii Baker

Also known as: Strand Aloe · Coast Aloe

Growth habit

succulent shrub or tree

Native range

Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal

Aloe thraskii — reference photo — (c) Jacqui Geux, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0

Cultivars of A. thraskii

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under A. thraskii yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

A Coastal Aloe

Aloe thraskii is a succulent that grows as a shrub or small tree, part of the vast Aloe lineage within the Asphodelaceae family. It is one of the many hundreds of accepted Aloe species recognized worldwide.

Source: Kew

Southern African Roots

This species comes from a narrow native range along the southeastern coast of South Africa, stretching from the southeastern Cape Province through to KwaZulu-Natal. It was first formally described by Baker in 1880. Fittingly for a plant of that stretch of coastline, it grows within the subtropical biome.

Source: Kew

Shrub or Tree Form

Aloe thraskii is described as a succulent shrub or tree, giving it a more substantial, woody presence than the many smaller rosette-forming aloes in its genus. Its genus as a whole is enormous, with well over five hundred accepted species spread from Africa to Arabia and beyond, so thraskii's tree-like habit sits at the larger end of that range.

Source: Kew

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 14-28d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Direct sun

Water

≈ every 28 days

Humidity

Low — average room

Temperature

7–30 °C

Soil mix

Gritty, fast-draining cactus and succulent mix

Propagation

Grown from seed; a single-stemmed tree aloe

Fertilizing

Light succulent feed once or twice in the growing season

Growth rate

Slow

Flowering

Yellow-orange winter spikes on mature plants, rare indoors

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Toxic to cats & dogs

Saponins + anthraquinones (the latex) — vomiting, lethargy, diarrhoea. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

(c) Jacqui Geux, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 14-28d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ASPCA

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Dune Aloe yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.