As to cultivated Aloe not being edible, that is probably not quite true, given that I know plenty of people who cultivate their own Aloe vera and/or Aloe officinalis and consume it. However, you could think of commercial production of Aloe vera for e.g. inclusion in hand creams or other skin products where the producer uses pest or weed control products on the plants/field and at that point one might worry that consuming a piece of a plant from such a field might carry with it some of those chemicals as most do not just wash off, which may far outstrip the good of the Aloe in terms of the harm they might cause to your body.
lindalee1000, the plant in your picture looks more like a juvenile version of A. officinalis, than it looks like Aloe vera. Still a medicinal plant, but not actually Aloe vera. The actual Aloe that as its name has Aloe vera (also often named Aloe barbadensis) even when small has much fewer spots and tends to be a much less bright green than Aloe officinalis. Even in a pot Aloe vera will grow into a bigger plant than Aloe officinalis, and while both offset/clump, Aloe vera is significantly slower in that process.
Aside from plant size and color (when in good growing conditions - all bets can be off when both plants are stressed), the best way to distinguish between these plants is when they flower, look in the plant data base and you can see the obvious difference not just in flower color, but also in how the flowers are carried on the inflorescence.
And unfortunately, most 'Aloe vera' plants you can buy at nurseries and big box store garden departments or at the check out stand in some grocery stores are actually Aloe officinalis. Does not make them less useful for medicinal purposes, but it does help create a big issue when it comes to plant identification and also feeds into the widespread misuse of the term 'Aloe vera' to describe any Aloe plant.
