Yes they look closely alike.
I do not like Orthophytum of any species. The reason is that the plant dies after blooming.
That means...if you do all the right things the plant will thank you by dying. The plant is beautiful and doing well and you are proud of it and your skills, than the miserable thing blooms get out of shape, gets taller and uglier and totally out of any good sense. I do not want this to my plants. A Dyckia is always beautiful
the older the better and after florishing they are even more beautifull. Ortophytuns ilude you, foolish you and I got rid of them all. Dyckias are uncomparable, the older the better. Dyckia argentea, the true one is the Cadillac of all Dyckias and gets nicer as the time passes by. It is very hard to find even here and I think it may exist in Heidelberg ´cause it is linked to the Dyckia lindelvaldae and D. Marnier (one of the many kinds) and the guy who sent it to Germany to be described and dried out and put into drawer. Some were preserved alive, spared ( I myself think this is great.) I have just two young plants but one is about to bloom. This one I will get pure seeds. It is tottaly worthwile to try to keep the pure strain. This jewel needsno bettering.
Orthophytuns are not my table, definetly.
At this size ( of this young Dyckia argentea) any Orthophytum would have rocketed to the skies and went out of shape trying o catch the clouds up above. (Would look like "eine
schlecht gefüllt Wurst")
This is a nature wonder and in my opinion the super-super of all the Brazilian Cerrado( Savana like) Dyckias. Here in the South we have even more impressive Dyckias. Dyckia kernii is one of them, Dyckia Perau da Cabrita and Dyckia Dona Francisca are all much more impressive than this Cerrado beauty but even thought
Dyckia are the beauty and Orthos are the beast.
Look, on a rainny day:
![Bild](http://lh6.ggpht.com/gastaldiconstantino/SQbsMoH5aVI/AAAAAAAAAdY/SwVtokiMVB8/s400/IMG_2812.jpg)
The photographer here is a miserable one for sure.