Aloe?

If you have a succulent plant and need help identifying it, this is the place to post it.
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Shane
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Aloe?

Post by Shane »

My neighbor gave me this Aloe like plant as s cutting last year. It's put up a flower bud now and I'm hoping to ID it. Or ar least decide if it's Aloe or not (the leaves, roots and flower bud all look Aloe-like). It's in a 4" pot for scale
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The plant in the green pot
The plant in the green pot
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Jangaudi
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Jangaudi »

looks like it yes, maybe it's Aloe howmanii / Aloe hazeliana v. howmanii. Flowers should be red. Hard to be sure though ;)
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Shane
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Shane »

Jangaudi wrote: Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:50 am looks like it yes, maybe it's Aloe howmanii / Aloe hazeliana v. howmanii. Flowers should be red. Hard to be sure though ;)
This looks about right. I'll see what color the flowers are
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Kaktusgartneriet
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Kaktusgartneriet »

Bulbine frutescens comes to mind. Yellow flowers. There's a picture on my Instagram account Kaktusgartneriet on 22. April
esp_imaging
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Re: Aloe?

Post by esp_imaging »

The leaves, stems and internodes look right for A. howmanii (and very wrong for Bulbine frutescens).

The flower spike doesn't look right, it does look quite Bulbine-like to me. There's a lot of flowers packed on that spike for A. howmanii, and the spurs / bracts / whaterver the sticky out bits are, don't look right.

Can you do a shot with the whole plant, inc. flower spike?
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Jangaudi
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Jangaudi »

yeah I wondered about that flower spike too, also the color, should look like this:
howmanii.jpg
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Could also be Aloe parallelifolia, but also reddish flowers, and some tiny teeth on the leaves, but again without these hairs sticking out between the flowers. I think it's best to wait a little until the flowers have developed fully, as it will rule out a bunch of things ;)
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Shane
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Shane »

Thanks for the responses everyone! Still waiting for the flowers to open. Will post pics when they do. In the mean time, here's a pic of the entire plant
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Los Angeles, California (USA)
Zone 10b (yearly minimum temperature 1-5° C)

Fishhook cacti are like cats, they only like to be petted in one direction
Jangaudi
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Jangaudi »

We don't need to worry about these small leaves sticking out of the flower buds, it seems pretty normal for some aloe species. What happens is that the individual flower stems outgrow those small leaves sticking out, making them next to invisible in a later stage:
aloe_buds1.jpg
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aloe_buds2.jpg
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aloe_buds3.jpg
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Definitely an aloe !
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Shane
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Shane »

One of the flowers finally opened, and it's... yellow. So, surprisingly Aloe howmanii is ruled out. Here's some pics:
Flower detail
Flower detail
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I'm not finding anything really matching mine. All the yellow flower Aloe I can find have toothed leaves. Mine has smooth edges leaves. Will post more pics as more flowers open
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esp_imaging
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Re: Aloe?

Post by esp_imaging »

That's a Bulbine flower.
No way is that an Aloe flower.
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Shane
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Shane »

I wasn't really familiar with Bulbine, but agree the flower looks right. I suppose all Aloe have the tube shaped flowers, so it wouldn't be Aloe. Its growth habit looks different than the Bulbine I can find on the internet. Mine seems to be upright and branching, whereas the planta in pics I can find are low and clumping
Los Angeles, California (USA)
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Fishhook cacti are like cats, they only like to be petted in one direction
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Shane
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Shane »

Another few maybe helpful bits of info. I repotted it about a month ago and it doesn't have a bulb or tuberous roots. Also, it has aerial roots. I don't have pics, but the plant it came from had a definitely branching habit. It came from a neighbor who had some unusual plants

Could it be an Asphodeloideae not in the Aloe or Bulbine geneus perhaps?
Los Angeles, California (USA)
Zone 10b (yearly minimum temperature 1-5° C)

Fishhook cacti are like cats, they only like to be petted in one direction
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Shane
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Shane »

Here's another pic (it's greener because we've had some cloudy days)
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Los Angeles, California (USA)
Zone 10b (yearly minimum temperature 1-5° C)

Fishhook cacti are like cats, they only like to be petted in one direction
Jangaudi
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Re: Aloe?

Post by Jangaudi »

Now that is a surprise indeed :D
It looks like Bulbine indeed. Bulbine frutescens is evergreen and stalked, which could be why is has that aloe look, though in most images the leaves are rather thin compared to this one, could be an older plant, and it does seem to develop aerial roots. Check this image :
http://www.llifle.com/plant_album/11123/1335
http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/SUCC ... frutescens
Flowers can range from yellow to orange.
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Re: Aloe?

Post by esp_imaging »

Yes, it looks like Kaktusgartneriet was correct all along
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