One of the genus of succulent plants from Africa, southwestern Asia, and Madagascar, Yemen tree aloe (Aloe sabaea) is among 400 species in the genus. The name “aloe” derives from the Greek word, which comes from the Arabian “allock” and the Hebrew “ahalim.” The specific epithet sabaea comes from the Roman name for Arabia Felix, the area now known as Yemen.

The Yemen tree aloe is a small tree aloe with a curving, unbranched trunk topped with a side-facing rosette of long, pale-green leaves that drape down and bend gracefully. Its orange flowers, which bloom from November through February, appear on tall upright inflorescences in open conical racemes on a plant that can reach 8 to 12 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide. This plant was described and named by German botanist and ethnologist Georg Augustus Schweinfurth in 1894. He found it during his travels throughout East Central Africa and the Saudi Arabian peninsula, growing in sunny, stony, barren soils. Suitable for USDA Zones 9-10, Aloe sabaea attracts birds and butterflies and is resistant to deer.