Dr. Seuss Aloe?

Karel DuToit next to his Avatar, Aloe pillansii

If Dr. Seuss were an Aloe fan, I suspect Aloe pillansii would have been his favorite--which has a sort of absurd resemblance to trees in some of his books. It rates high for Karel DuToit--shown here standing next to a fine specimen (Karel's on the right--to be clear!). Karel named his company for this tree (Pillansii tours)--and he produced a shirt emblazoned with an image of this very specimen! Which I possess and should add to this post when I get around to it!

Seeing this aloe was high on my wish list for this trip (we tore through that list in record time and saw ever so much more!). Karel told me there are only about 1000 specimens of this aloe in the wild--and the hill above has the largest colony.

Here is Jan standing next to another stalwart example: each tree had its own peculiar character...

We were pleased to see young specimens here and there...

The Richtersveld (where these grow) is an extremely arid region, with temperatures in excess of 40 Celsius in the summer months. Drought is practically never ending...

Occasional dead specimens like the one on the right inspire speculation: just how long has that been dead? How old might it have been?

There were surprising numbers of choice plants growing around and among the aloes--I believe this is Euphorbia dregeana.

Next blog perhaps will feature the wealth of choice bulbs, herbaceous plants, shrubs and succulents growing nearby...