RE: another mystery plant (succulent)

How educational for me this seemingly simple question turned out to be.
Everyone seems to agree it is an aloe. But....

Yesterday I stopped by the nursery to ask the owner his opinion of the
photo. He came to the same conclusion David Feix did, that is, it is likely
a cross of arborescens. He suggested africana as another possible parent
because it blooms at the same relatively unusual time of year as
arborescens, except that the flowers curve up. In a seedling tray he says it
is usually obvious which ones are hybrids, so he pulls them out and pots
them up to see what happens or to give away. Gently he indicated our plant
is not the most interesting specimen he's ever seen but that it was
certainly one of a kind.

When the plant is older and its shape becomes apparent, I'll try to figure
out which of the 10 groups of aloes it falls into, using van Wyk's and
Smith's Guide to the Aloes of South Africa, and match up bloom times.

Thank you all for your generous help. What a wonderful resource this
listserv is.

Nancy


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu [o*@ucdavis.edu]
On Behalf Of david feix
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 11:37 PM
To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu; nmmueller@roadrunner.com
Subject: Re: another mystery plant (succulent)

I suspect it is a hybrid or complex hybrid that contains Aloe arborescens as
one parent.  I've seen several photos of A. arborescens hybrids that have
equally long and multiple bloom spikes; try looking up A. arborescens x A.
suprafoliata, as well as A. x spinossimus.  Unfortunately, neither of these
appear to be a perfect match for your plant, but they give you a better idea
of why I think it is a hybrid with A. arborescens in the mix.

It often seems that Aloe hybrids can have benefits of hybrid vigor with
extra quantities of blooms if the marriage is a happy one; I suppose there
is also the possibility of hybrids that only a parent could love.

--- On Mon, 3/1/10, NMMueller <nmmueller@roadrunner.com> wrote:

> From: NMMueller <nmmueller@roadrunner.com>
> Subject: another mystery plant (succulent)
> To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Date: Monday, March 1, 2010, 5:36 PM
> 
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> Hi
> everyone 
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> A succulent
> nursery owner gave us this plant as a bonus because
> the tag was lost. Finally it blooms. Does anybody know what
> it is? 
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> http://www.fallbrookgardenclub.org/orangeflowersucculent.htm
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> Thank
> you. 
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> Nancy
> Mueller  
> 
> Fallbrook,
> CA 
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