Aloidendron dichotomum sentinel

When Aloidendron dichotoma grows tall but sparsely branched, one may wonder about distinguishing it from A. pillansii.

The upper branches below the leaf rosettes are thinner in A. dichotomum and they spread; A pillansii upper branches are stouter and tend towards being erect. The leaves of A. pillansii are falcately deflexed, i.e. curving downwards in a sickle-shape. This curving is not as consistent in A. dichotomum.

Branching in both species is dichotomous, i.e. two equivalent branches form as a result of an equal division of a stem-tip bud, not derived from an axillary bud. 

This A. dichotomum grows in the Goegap Nature Reserve where drought has been severe in the period preceding the photo. Several dead branches are present.

The Kenhardt region is said to have these trees with particularly dense crowns (Jeppe, 1969; Coates Palgrave, 2002; iNaturalist).