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Aloe polyphylla; photograph Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAStan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Aloe polyphylla Schönland ex Pillans

Spiral aloe; Basotoland aloe; Coiled aloe

Asphodelaceae · Lesotho · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Aloe polyphylla Schönland ex Pillans: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Pillans.

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Aloe polyphylla, photograph (c) Justin Ponder, some rights reserved (CC BY)Aloe polyphylla, photograph Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAloe polyphylla, photograph Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAloe polyphylla, photograph Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAloe polyphylla, photograph Just chaos, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAloe polyphylla, photograph J Brew, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 13 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-4.6°C
Record low -13.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
22°C
Jan at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
807mm
10 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
23–48DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes April to September (October to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 10 records in 8 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Aloe polyphylla, the spiral aloe, kroonaalwyn, lekhala kharetsa, or many-leaved aloe, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Aloe that is endemic to the Kingdom of Lesotho in the Drakensberg mountains. An evergreen succulent perennial, it is well known for its strikingly symmetrical, five-pointed spiral growth habit.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Aloe polyphylla", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Aloe

Aloe is a genus containing 594 species of flowering succulent plants. The most widely known species is Aloe vera, or "true aloe", which is cultivated as a source for topical uses and dietary supplements. Other species, such as Aloe ferox, are also cultivated or harvested from the wild for similar applications.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Aloe", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the genus Aloe in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent perennial”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (628 mm of 803 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 14.8 °C against a yearly mean of 10.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Rain

803 mm in the median year at the habitat, 628 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 120 mm, driest month July at 11 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 628 mm to 1,234 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 807 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 803 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 23 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 49).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -4.6 °C, the absolute minimum -13.5 °C, 2,484 frost nights in 44 years, 56.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -2.5 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -4.8 °C to -0.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 21.5 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 48 to 58% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -194 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Aloe in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent perennial”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 10 records in 8 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Aloe polyphylla through the yearWarmest month January, mean daily high 22 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low -2.5 °C; 803 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost30.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-13.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 23–48RH 48–58%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 8 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C22 / 19–2521 / 18–2519 / 17–2317 / 14–1914 / 11–1611 / 8–1311 / 8–1314 / 10–1617 / 14–2018 / 16–2219 / 17–2321 / 18–25
Night °C10 / 8–1310 / 8–138 / 6–115 / 3–71 / -1–3-2 / -4–0-3 / -5–-10 / -3–23 / 1–66 / 3–97 / 5–109 / 7–12
Rain mm120 / 97–223111 / 89–19899 / 76–15456 / 40–7526 / 19–3219 / 14–2311 / 8–1430 / 23–3933 / 23–4886 / 67–121101 / 77–146111 / 87–188
DLI47 / 44–4742 / 40–4337 / 36–3731 / 30–3226 / 25–2723 / 23–2525 / 25–2731 / 30–3238 / 37–3842 / 40–4246 / 43–4648 / 46–49
RH %57 / 55–5958 / 57–6057 / 57–5855 / 55–5653 / 51–5452 / 48–5351 / 47–5249 / 48–5048 / 47–5054 / 52–5555 / 53–5655 / 54–57
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 8 grid cells holding the 10 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2397:4164 (-29.875, 28.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -13.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 8 distinct grid cells holding 10 of the 10 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2397:4164 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -30.00_28.125, lapse-corrected -194 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1966 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeLesotho · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-29.805, 28.043 · in the densest population, 26 records (100% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent perennial” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 26 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 10 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 8 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 41 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 16 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 26 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Aloe polyphylla, photograph 1did not loadAloe polyphylla, photograph 2did not loadAloe polyphylla, photograph 3did not loadAloe polyphylla, photograph 4did not loadAloe polyphylla, photograph 5did not loadAloe polyphylla, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Justin Ponder, some rights reserved (CC BY); Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3); Just chaos, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; J Brew, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Cysticapnos pruinosa Cysticapnos pruinosa Wild Fumaria Photo: CC BY, Morten RossGladiolus saundersii Gladiolus saundersii Lesotho Gladiolus Photo: CC BY, Morten RossPhygelius capensis Phygelius capensis Cape figwort Photo: CC BY, guywallbanksDierama robustum Dierama robustum Iridaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossBerkheya purpurea Berkheya purpurea Purple African Thistle Photo: CC BY, Morten RossHelichrysum trilineatum Helichrysum trilineatum Social Everlasting Photo: CC BY, Morten Ross

Other Aloe 198 in the reference

Aloe aculeata Aloe aculeata Tent Cent Aloe Photo: CC0, author not statedAloe acutissima Aloe acutissima Asphodelaceae Photo: CC BY, amantedarmaninAloe affinis Aloe affinis Spotted aloe Photo: CC BY-SA, alanbedfordshawAloe africana Aloe africana African aloe Photo: CC BY, Malte KrömerAloe albiflora Aloe albiflora Asphodelaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, S MoltenoAloe alooides Aloe alooides Graskop aloe Photo: CC BY, katuchkaAloe amudatensis Aloe amudatensis Asphodelaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Susan BrownAloe andongensis Aloe andongensis Asphodelaceae Photo: CC BY, Presha SoogrimAloe angelica Aloe angelica Wylliespoort aloe Photo: CC0, DaderotAloe antandroi Aloe antandroi Asphodelaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Andrew HankeyAloe arborescens Aloe arborescens Candelabra aloe Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloAloe arenicola Aloe arenicola Beach Aloe Photo: CC0, author not stated all 199 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Asphodelaceae
Described by
Schönland ex Pillans
Native to
Lesotho
Wild records
26 in range · 8 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF's key 2777781 is Aloe polyphylla Pillans; the page links Kew's Aloe polyphylla Schönland ex Pillans, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -30.00_28.125, lapse-corrected -194 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 6 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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