On distinguishing aloe flowers ...
Many of these hybrids have input from more than 2 species and as a result their flowers tend to be ordinary and not particularly distinct. Sort of right in the middle of all the parents. So not particularly different from the flowers of other hybrids in the general ballpark (and with this plant there are dozens). Identifying bumpy hybrids from their flowers is pretty much impossible in almost every case, at least for me anyway.
If the bumpy aloe hybrids were selected for their flowers instead of their leaves, this would be a very different story. There are a few aloe hybrids from South Africa which were selected for their flowering behavior and I am a huge fan. They produce densely flowered racemes and many of them at once.
The color of the flowers is just one of several ways to tell them apart. Also their size, their shape, their spacing and arrangement on the flower stem. The branching and length of the flower stem, what direction it points, where it comes from in the rosette. The vegetative reproduction afterwards (bulbil production, branching).
For example, the inflorescences of 'Marmalade' (shown above) tend to be somewhat oblique (sideways) and they tend to come from lower down in the rosette. The inflorescences of 'Christmas Carol' (among others) tend to produce bulbils in great numbers. The inflorescences of 'Vito' are often highly branched.
One of the parents that is well represented in many/most of the bumpy hybrids is Aloe divaricata, whose flowers are widely spaced along the flower stem (the racemes are laxly flowered). This seems to be the feature that penetrates most into the hybrids, and certainly into Gigi's inflorescence above.
With the patented plants (of which Firecracker is one) the patent itself should contain a description of the flowers, to the extent that information may be useful to you.
https://patents.justia.com/pat...
The diversity of aloe flowers is one of the biggest reasons I love this group. If you don't mind me indulging you with some plant porn, here are a few distinctive ones.
Oblique racemes with secund flowers (all pointing one direction, up, when they open)
Oblique racemes, flowers not secund, flowers club-shaped
Capitate racemes
Bicolored flowers (changing color when they open)
Ventricose flowers (with a small belly on the underside)
Dense cylindrical racemes with short flowers (also scented)
Flowers curve upward when they open (but still below horizontal)
Curved upward (skyward), with far exserted stemens and style
Large bracts
With far exserted stamens and brown nectar
