The name "arenicola" means "inhabitant of sands" in Latin, as this tough aloe is naturally restricted to the sandy dune areas that run in a narrow strip along the South African west coast, from Lamberts Bay in the south, up to the Namibian border in the north.
Adapted as they are for arid, sandy, winter-rainfall desert, their roots and stems tend to rot when they are propagated in wet climates.