Aloe succotrina buds emerging from the rosette

The peduncle of an Aloe succotrina inflorescence is a straight, sturdy and erect column, here brownish green in colour. Its inside surface is flat, the outside convex. There are spaced and scattered papery, sterile bracts upon the peduncle surface below the inflorescence.

Additional inflorescences are emerging in the photo from the rosette centre, the base of the older one a little further out, still live and green. They belong to the same season as the bigger shaft. A multitude of underdeveloped buds, already recognised as separate, yet compactly held together as the inflorescence starts off, form a smooth-surfaced, snake-like head. It is rising imperceptibly above the foliage, announces its presence more strongly each day.

The whitish margins and almost regular, prickly teeth seen from above resemble the lower jaw of a never before seen sea creature that might arise in the imagination from waters best avoided (Frandsen, 2017; Smith, et al, 2017; Van Wyk and Gericke, 2007; Van Wyk and Smith, 2003; Reynolds, 1974; Jeppe, 1969; iNaturalist).