Aloe Species, Rat Aloe

this is a rare Kenyan tree aloe in cultivation. Not seen a mature one.. in fact, I have only seen dinky seedlings so far, but photos of ...Read Morethis look impressive. It is a solitary species with a naked stem (no retained leaves on this one) with uniquely toxic leaves, that reportedly smell like rodents when cut. This is one of the rare, truly toxic Aloe species.

Do not confuse this huge plant with the dinky grass aloe from southern Africa spelled almost the same (Aloe ballii).

I got one inky dinky seedling a year ago thinking that it was probably going to die (rare species sometimes are rare for a reason)... but surprisingly it has done quite well and grown quite rapidly (from a 3 leaf 2" tall plant to a 6 leaf 10" tall plant in just a year- fast for many species). At this rate, it will be an actual tree aloe in another few years. Now I just have to hope it is relatively cold hardy.