About the plant
Aloe ballyi is endemic to Kenya and Tanzania, confined in the wild to an area of 500 km² of dense bush.
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Endangered
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
Banked in the MSBSeeds from this plant have been banked in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, at Wakehurst in Sussex
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MedicinePlant or components of this plant are used in medicine
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PoisonPlant is poisonous to humans
Facts
- Grows in dry bushland
- Threatened by land clearance
- Named for its collector Peter Bally
- Planted along the streets of Nairobi
- Known as rat aloe from the stink of broken leaves
- One of the few poisonous aloes
Bethan Hobbs © RBG Kew
© Frans Noltee
Vanessa Sutcliffe © RBG Kew
© Petr Pavelka
© Petr Pavelka
© Petr Pavelka
Taita Hills, Kenya
A. ballyi is found in the Taita Hills which lie between the east and west zones of Tsavo National Park, in south-east Kenya. These hills have been isolated ecologically for a long period of time, so plants and trees here are unique to this area.
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Endangered
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
Banked in the MSBSeeds from this plant have been banked in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, at Wakehurst in Sussex
-
MedicinePlant or components of this plant are used in medicine
-
PoisonPlant is poisonous to humans