ISI 1731 Aeonium 'Zwartkin'. This plant has been variously misspelled with an added "t" or "d" on the end. However, Jack Catlin's idea in naming it was that it was akin to A. 'Zwartkop', one of its parents. Additional confusion arose from the fact that Jack retained two other sibling seedlings that he referred to as "Zwartkin # 2" and "Zwartkin # 3". The latter had green foliage so was easily distinguished. Number two, on the other hand, has purplish foliage like many 'Zwartkop' hybrids but is glossier and has more open rosettes than the matte, flat rosettes of the original A. 'Zwartkin'. The plant was lost from our garden for a time but we recently acquired propagation stock of the original ISI 1731 and are able to offer it once again for $8. An availability list of other past ISI items is available on request.

ISI 2005-8 Aloe barberae Dyer. This plant from northern S. Africa and southern Mozambique has been considered to be merely a coastal form of the more widespread A. barberae. It has been circulating for a number of years as the "medusa form" or even under the unpublished Aloe medusa. It has now been published as a separate species, Aloe tongaensis van Jaarsveld, in Aloe 47:3(2010) and was discussed in the prior issue of this journal in van Jaarsveld's article on tree-aloes. The species is distinguished from A. barberae by its earlier flowering-period (late autumn to early winter vs. midwinter) and its distinctive flowers (longer and yellowish-orange vs. pinkish).

ISI 2009-15. Aloe 'Vulcanica'. According to Tom McCoy, Aloe 'Vulcanica' appears to be merely a garden hybrid of A. armatissima. In addition, the original publication of A. vulcanica Lavranos & Collenette lacked a Latin diagnosis and citation of a type specimen and is therefore invalid. A. 'Vulcanica', therefore, is also invalid as a Latinized cultivar name. In view of this, plants distributed as ISI 2009-15 should be referred to as "A. armatissima hybrid."