Salm Dyck aloe (Aloe salm-dyckiana) was given a species name early in the eighteenth century, before it was recognized—thanks to DNA analysis—as representing a hybrid swarm* between Aloe ferox and Aloe arborescens. Individual plants can have flowers of deep scarlet, tangerine, orange, or a combination of orange and yellow, depending on what part of the hybrid swarm they descend from.

Aloes require low humidity and deep, well-drained soil. Some of the smaller-maturing species make exceptional container plants, but this species matures at 8 to 10 feet in height and produces enormous, branched, candelabra-like inflorescences. Unfortunately, this plant requires a container too large and heavy for most Chicago-area gardeners to move indoors in the fall to escape winter's freezing temperatures.

*A hybrid swarm is a variable local population at the junction of the range of two interfertile species or subspecies resulting from extensive interbreeding and hybridization.