Aloe Ferox and/or marlothii

[Axel Amsterdam]

South of France

[Tracy]

  On 8/10/2023 at 9:44 PM, Axel Amsterdam said:

South of France

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Marlothii has those more lateral branching inflorescence versus Aloe ferox which still branch some but are more erect in their branches.

[Axel Amsterdam]

So could the first be marlothii?

[hbernstein]

Image #1 looks like marlothii to me.

[Marius]

  On 8/11/2023 at 3:28 PM, hbernstein said:

Image #1 looks like marlothii to me.

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I agree

[Tracy]

A couple of Aloe marlothii with flowers and post flowering with seeds on the inflorescence.  You can see how they branch out as opposed to upward.

[Tracy]

Aloe ferox showing the inflorescence grow more upright.  The plant in this case fell over and is trying to grow upward.  I planted it between some Cycas thouarsii which took over all the light as well as perhaps a little too close to the wall behind it, so it fell forward but continues to grow.  I may behead it and plant the head at some point since this worked on another one that did the same thing several years ago.  This is an old photo since these are late Autumn into winter bloomers here.  This one has been growing like this for about 3 years now.

[Axel Amsterdam]

Thanks Tracy, would you say this is the only way to tell them apart? Are there no other reliable characteristics like color (more blue or green) or number of spines on the back of the leaves that differ from an early age? From most pictures it would seem that ferox loses it’s spines on the underside of the leafs, more so than marlothii. But maybe this is no reliable thrait. 

[Tracy]

  On 8/16/2023 at 12:38 AM, Axel Amsterdam said:

From most pictures it would seem that ferox loses it’s spines on the underside of the leafs, more so than marlothii.

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Definitely true... and another way to distinguish between them, or at least the ones I have seen.  When young Aloe marlothii is much more spiny than Aloe ferox too.

[Cape Garrett]

  On 8/10/2023 at 9:44 PM, Axel Amsterdam said:

South of France

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Top is marlothii.  2nd pic could be spectabilis.  Similar to marlothii but with more upright vs lateral inflorescence.   Slight difference in flowers too.