Aloe aculeata in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia

As the specific name aculeata says, it is prickly! The big single rosettes of Aloe aculeata are in winter adorned with impressive yellow or orange inflorescences. Single raceme flowers appear on the younger plants and branched panicles on mature ones.

Resemblance to some other species occurs for many life forms on earth, from being closely or distantly related. Features of a plant or animal allow it being placed closer to some and further from others, suggestions of recognition brought by shared ancestry. Such kinship is sometimes confirmed by scientific verification of DNA and real historical developmental "lines" may be revealed. Chance and quirks of events and resemblance sometimes play unexpected roles in unlike specimens (Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist).