About Aloe cooperi Baker
Aloe cooperi Baker, commonly called Cooper's aloe and known as iPutumane in Zulu, is a succulent species endemic to Southern Africa. It holds notable cultural and economic importance for the Zulu people of South Africa. Its natural distribution ranges across the warm southern coastal areas of Kwazulu-Natal, extending northward into the colder mountainous regions of Eswatini and Mpumalanga. Zulu people traditionally cook and eat the species' young shoots and flowers as vegetables. They also believe that burning the plant's leaves in cattle kraals and exposing cattle to the resulting smoke will counteract negative effects from cattle eating unsuitable food. Juice from Aloe cooperi has been fed to horses to remove ticks. Because this plant attracts nectar-feeding birds, it is a popular garden plant throughout South Africa.
