Aloe ‘Bronze Lizard’

🌱 Morphology
   A small hybrid aloe with an almost reptilian appearance, featuring a compact rosette formed by lanceolate, fleshy, and pointed leaves. The dark green epidermis is covered with numerous light green, almost whitish spots and striations, which create a highly characteristic irregular pattern. With intense lighting, it can develop bronzed, coppery, and reddish tones. The margins are armed with small teeth, and it produces offsets, forming clusters over time.

🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
It is a horticultural hybrid with no natural distribution or specific habitat. Some sources describe it as a hybrid of two Aloe species, but no reliable documentation of its parents, hybridizer, or date of origin has been found. It belongs to the Asphodelaceae family, Alooideae tribe, Aloe genus.

Note on the name: there is no evidence that ‘Bronze Lizard’ is an incorrect form of Aloe ‘Blizzard’. ‘Blizzard’ is a distinct patented cultivar by Renee O'Connell, with documented parentage and much more pronounced white variegation.

❄️ Temperature — USDA 10b
It tolerates minimum temperatures down to 3 ºC. It is recommended to keep it dry during cold spells and protect it from lower temperatures. The cultivation sources consulted even advise keeping it above 8–10 ºC, so it should not be considered a frost-hardy aloe.

☀️ Lighting
It requires plenty of light to maintain its compact shape and develop the bronzed tones and the contrasting pattern of the leaves. Gentle sun or very bright partial shade is recommended, with progressive acclimatization. As a cultivation reference, 20–30 mol/m²/day of DLI PAR is suitable.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Summer dormancy. During the active period, it is recommended to water deeply and allow the substrate to dry completely before the next watering. During the hottest summer months, watering should be spaced out and the water supply reduced; it is also considerably restricted during the cold winter.

🌸 Flowering
Available information is scarce. It may produce upright inflorescences with tubular flowers in orange to pinkish tones, usually described towards the end of winter or early spring. There is not enough solid information available to confirm its ability to rebloom multiple times in the same season.

🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, Desert CHOICE® Aloes, Haworthias & Co. is recommended, with high potassium and bioavailable calcium content. It is applied with watering, reducing or suspending fertilization during summer dormancy.

9x9 cm gourmet black pot

This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a high-tech square pot with substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.

 * As this is an online purchase, the appearance of the specimen sent may vary slightly from the product image. The plant measurements are specified in the photo description, but this may also vary slightly because it is a living being! Each Desert CITY plant has unique characteristics.