Aloe petricola grows with a single stemless rosette. The long raceme, typical of younger specimens, has a colour change from red to yellow when the buds open and each perianth transforms from red to a greenish white open flower. The bicolour characteristic is shared with a number of other aloe species.

This is another citizen of Mpumalanga, where it grows naturally on sandstone slopes in a small distribution area near Nelspruit. The name petricola means "inhabitant of rocky places" (Van Wyk and Smith, 2003).

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