Hi Borrego,

Looks like Erinacea to me. Melanacantha has much more darker green leaves.

Greetings,

Eric

Dear Borrego,

Yes, Eric's got it.

Boy, that is a vicious looking plant isn't it? Which ever it is, it is special.
Dan
Lincoln, NE USDA 5

Sorry guys, but I beg to differ :)

Looks more like melanacantha due to
1- older spines are black
2- it has a trunk

As far as I know, neither of these features occur on erinacea, which some consider to be a subspecies or variety of melanacantha...

As Eric mentioned, the leaf color is usually darker on melanacantha, but this trait can vary between clones.

Dan, the spines look bad, but they are soft.

BTW nice specimen!

Regards,
Peyton

My Main Man Peyton,

While one may be considered a subspecies of the other, they're very different-looking.

The best-looking (i.e. most distinctive) pic I could find on the web of Aloe melanacantha is in the link below.

Yes, the spines look vicious, but they're soft.

The plant that Borrego has is Aloe erinacea - A. melanacantha never gets all the different colors that is evident in Aloe erinacea, although both, as I understand, are winter-growers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aloe of the Black Thorn

Thanks to all who have posted. I can take more photos if needed or desired........

My Fellow Aloephile Jeffrey,

I was not aware that all the older spines could turn black like that on erinacea, which is typical of melanacantha, nor had I seen erinacea with such a trunk... must be a really old specimen.
But other than that I must admit that it does look like erinacea...

Peyton