Aloe petricola grows with a single stemless rosette. The long raceme, typical of younger specimens, has a colour change from red to yellow when the buds open and each perianth transforms from red to a greenish white open flower. The bicolour characteristic is shared with a number of other aloe species.

Aloe globuligemma has slender procumbent stems that creep and root to establish a clump of rosettes, often in the bushveld semi-shade. The vigorous winter flowering is spectacular. Long arrays of rose-coloured buds, whitish towards the tube mouths are quite unlike other aloe flowers.

Aloe cryptopoda is a stemless aloe with a large, dense rosette of deep green leaves. Leaf margins have small dark brown to black spines. The plants grow in bushveld grass, among rocks and shrubs. The species distribution is widespread in the north of South Africa and several neighbouring countries, up to Malawi.