There seems to be some confusion again with common names - Aloe vera is Aloe vera :-) Although that term is sometimes used to refer to ANY kind of aloe, there are not two species of true or common, aka medicinal aloe. There ARE many species of aloe....as many as 400 have been registered but true aloe, Aloe vera (formerly Aloe barbadensis), is the one noted for medicinal purposes. There is some documentation that Aloe arborescens also has similar medicinal properties but as the species name suggests, this has a much more tree-like growth habit and develops a distinct stem or trunk. The difference in growth habits between the two plants shown in the pics is simply due to age and maturity. Aloe vera will form a full rosette if given sufficient time and proper growing conditions. Check the Wiki photo linked below. The smaller ones that appear to only grow laterally rather than in a round rosette of leaves are just young, immature plants (offsets or pups) and hampered from full development by lack of time and indoor growing conditions. Here is a link that might be useful:

After looking over the site you mentioned, the closest type seemed to be the branddraaiensis. Soap Aloe/Zebra Aloe, Prinslooi, Turkanensis, Aloe Zebrina are some of the aloes that have similiar features to the one I have. My aloe has red-orange colored flowers, it splits three ways at the base of the stem, the leaves are a medium green with light slightly oval spots, spikes (which turn from green to brown in direct sunlight, the leaves will also turn a purplish-brown color when over exposed in the light, the center base of the plant never lingers above ground like Soap Aloe does slightly.. the rest you can figure out from the pictures I posted. Unfortunately www.deserttropicals.com doesn't include images with every aloe and the pictures are not very detailed in most cases(ie. baby plants which don't show adult features) Thank you very much for the feedback and link, hope that my main 2 questions will be answered soon :). Brian

There are several succulent specific groups on Facebook for the sole purpose of selling/buying that are free which eBay is NOT! Succulent Market Place and B.E.S.T I do some online selling and usually use Regular Priority boxes as opposed to Flat Rate because it is significantly cheaper. You may have to go online to the USPS and order the Regular boxes because they usually are not available at your local post office. The USPS has 3 different side boxes that have worked for me: 7"x7"x6", 12"x12"x8" and 7.5"x5.1"x14.4" (Shoebox). Boxes and shipping them to you is free. Next, find a source for discarded newspapers. Buy some wide cellophane tape. I, personally, like using mailing labels rather than hand written addresses and I do the postage online so I can just mail from home and don't have to travel to the post office all the time. There isn't a "correct way" to package plants. Anyone mailing plants has their own method that works for them and even this sometimes doesn't work out. I usually crunch up some paper in the bottom of the box, I wrap the bare root plant like you may have seen a butcher wrap a steak. place the bare root plant on the diagonal, roll it up a couple of times and fold in the sides and finish rolling. I used to tape the plants but no longer waste time or tape. Place in the box and crunch more paper on top. I hold the top closed and shake. If I don't hear any movement, I tape it. If there is movement, I add more crunched paper. The next most important item is a scale that generates weights in 0.2 oz increments. If you don't know the weight, you can't tell the buyer the total cost. Some people just use a flat mailing rate which may be more than the actual rate. I weigh EVERY parcel and ONLY collect the actual postage. I feel it is irresponsible and disrespectful to profit on postage.

Cut them off with clean sharp pruners. Let the cuts callus over for a few day and then repot like normal. You can also leave the cuttings out of mix on a paper towel till roots grow and then pot them up. It doesnt matter. While the cuttings are rootless keep in bright filtered light and no water. Once roots grow you can water and acclimate to stronger sun. Sorry this isn’t a better pic, but I cut this baby Aloe off about three was ago, and it’s starting to pop out a root.