Wow...a lot of information I didn't know about Aloe Vera. The reason I stumbled across this forum is that I have a very big Aloe Vera (Big Bertha) she is healthy. She seems to be growing up the way at a very fast rate, with new growth always showing in the middle and she produces a lot of pups. The height is causing her to be top heavy and I was wondering if I should cut some of the bottom leaves off and pot her further down into the cactus soil. Another problem I have is that I have one window which faces South and where I put all my Aloe Veras during the Winter. Unfortunately during the Spring it is too cold to put them outside and the Sun can be very strong and sunburn the plants. I have no where else to put them or would covering them with the fleece you would use in a garden help?

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:

Pls. don't cut it w/out sharing a pic first as that may not be the right advice, depending on the problem. Leaning can be due to 2 rather different things, either leaning towards the light or rotting from the bottom, neither of which will be helped by cutting. Just so you know.

I want to start off by saying I have no idea what the last plant really is. That being said it looks very close to a plant of mine that I have labeled as Gasteraloe 'Midnight' which depending on sun can range from a dark green to like a redish purple in color. Your other Aloe are very lovely by the way. I also have one like your "Jungle" that I've been trying to identify for quite some time.