mcvansoest said:OK, so the whole Trichocereus/Echinopsis/Lobivia nomenclature is currently a huge mess ...............

If you think that is a mess, you should see the Discocactus nomenclature

James

This is a plant I received at a plant exchange a few years ago. It was labeled as Mexican Aloe. I wanted to see what you all think. I'm leaning towards Lace Aloe. It has never bloomed, but it stays in bright shade, so that might be the problem. It does make lots of babies! It keeps outgrowing the pot. I have several other pots of it, plus have given away many plants. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I would have said it was Haworthia but I don't always know what I'm talking about.

SALL20 said:This is a plant I received at a plant exchange a few years ago. It was labeled as Mexican Aloe. I wanted to see what you all think. I'm leaning towards Lace Aloe. It has never bloomed, but it stays in bright shade, so that might be the problem. It does make lots of babies! It keeps outgrowing the pot. I have several other pots of it, plus have given away many plants. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Also known as, Aloe aristata

I am not sure that is a 'pure' Aloe aristata. I think it might be a gasteraloe with Aloe aristata as its very dominant Aloe parent. It is missing the hairlike leaf tips and also just does not look quite the right shape, but it is very close...

And I find the name 'Mexican Aloe' strange, Aloes are not from Mexico, nor are Gasterias or Haworthias...

"Mexican Aloe" sounds just as strange to me as "South African Agave"... clash of hemispheres.

The plant is not Aloe aristata, for the reasons that Thijs gave. Possibly a hybrid, possibly an intergeneric one (eg. Gasteraloe). Very pretty though.

Thanks for your comments. As Thijs noted, it doesn't look quite right on the tip ends. Also it stays shorter and more compact than an aloe, in that it never gets 'leggy'. It probably is some mixture and will remain a mystery. I'll continue to enjoy it and find good homes for its babies, as the lady at the plant exchange did.

Sandra, I have that same Aloe gasteria hybrid. It does not grow tall it just mounds. Mine has a bloom stalk right now. It likes to get full sun in early Spring here. I really need to repot it soon, it has fully occupied its bowl container. By late spring to summer, it will only get a few hours of sun here, due to the shade from our city trees.

This is what mine looks like this year..it gets somewhat ratty in winter with some tip damage, but it recovers later on, and just continues growing, it was a gift from my aunt last 2010.
Feb 2016


24Mar2016 - getting too littered by the falling catkins and leaf kernels from our city trees, so just got to clean it off as often as I can.

To shed some light on the artistata/hybrid situation, here's what my aristata looks like. One feature that stands out to my eyes is the constriction near the base of each flower. They also curve downward a bit when they extend.



Nice leafy Euphorbia, Kim. It's a boy!

Sall20,
Your plant is a hybrid. It could be a Gasteraloe cv Flow, Gasteria x Aloe Hybrid Plant. Most hybrids are very hard to ID. I saw them at Home Depot and almost bought one. They were spray painted different colors and I just couldn't convince myself to purchase one.

Neat plants Kim!

I bought these Lithops recently, but foolishly threw away the tag because it annoyed me that it called them "space rocks." Anyone want to take a stab at the species?

Here are a few pics I took over the weekend.



A very recent Opuntia cutting.




A really fat new pencil plant stem (Euphorbia tirucalli.)

I have been down a Google rabbit-hole, and I THINK what I've got there is Lithops lesliei v. venteri.

Lovely pictures everyone

Some of my plants crammed into greenhouse & house:

This container isn't all that big but it weighs a ton and usually sits on a windowsill in front of hanging Philodendrons during the cold season, so watering day is an "event". It is a rectangular Terracotta pot with three 4-inch round pots at different levels. I took shots of nearly all of the plants while the container is on the kitchen counter where I can still get to it. Here are a few pics from this morning.

I'm not sure what these two are but they are the same type.



Crassula perforata 'Variegata' and C. rupestris



Echeveria rumyonii 'Topsy Turvy'



Sedum morganianum - Donkey Tail



Echeveria nodulosa




This is of course a different container. Lithops need VERY little water, so growing them together in a very shallow pot with almost nothing to retain the water makes life easier for them as well as me.

(The rock's name is Waldo.)

Lovely collection Bob! Love the lithops and waldo too