Aloe Vera
Aloe vulgaris

Other Names: Aloe, Aloes, Barbados Aloe, Curacoa Aloe, First-aid plant, Burn Plant, Kitchen medic, Medicinal Aloe, Miracle Plant, Hsiang, L'Alois, Musambra Aloe, Zabila

Habitat: Aloe is an evergreen perennial native to Europe and the Mediterranean, but have escaped cultivation and spread throughout the world. It is now found in deserts and jungles, temperate and cold climates. Cultivation is fairly easy, the plant prefers light, sandy, well-drained soil and a very sunny position. Aloe makes a very suitable houseplant. Aloe plants are succulent with strong fibrous roots. The leaves form a rosette at the base of the plant and are thick, fleshy, smooth, lancelet, mottled and light or dark green with spiny cactus likes edges. The stem or flower stalk is smooth, erect, and branched, growing to the height of large trees given time. In remote districts of southwest Africa Aloes have been discovered growing 30 to 60 feet high. Flowers are tubular and grow in compact spikes, terminating atop each stem, they may be white, yellowish or pinkish. It is in leaf all year, and blooms according to climate. Collect the juice from fresh cut leaves and store refrigerated, can be frozen.

Properties: Most of us know of Aloe as a kitchen plant to brake off a leaf use for burns, but Aloe has a very long history of use as a medicinal plant. It was documented by the Mesopotamians in 1750 B.C., and later by the Egyptians (550 B.C.) and the Greeks. The plant is antibacterial, emmenagogue, emollient, laxative, purgative, stimulant, stomachic, tonic, vermifuge and vulnerary. Claims of its use as a panacea used to treat everything from cancer to minor cuts and burns may not be far from true. Internally, aloe vera is an effective antibacterial and antifungal agent and is often used to treat peptic ulcers, gastrointestinal disorders, intestinal infections and constipation. Externally, aloe vera helps heal and relieve burns, giving an immediate soothing effect on all minor irritations and various other even serious skin conditions. It is used in many pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and dermalogical products. Plant constituents include aloectin B, which stimulates the immune system, anthraquinones called bitter aloes, which are a digestive stimulant and a strong laxative, taken internally in the treatment of chronic constipation, poor appetite, digestive problems. Other Aloins are present in the plant and known to be active, though the mechanism by which they work is presently unknown.

The plant is strongly purgative, it should not be given to pregnant women or people with hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome.

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Folklore: There is much lore and legend throughout the world concerning Aloe. Life giving even magical properties have been attributed to the plant. Whole cults have been found in remote jungles who praise it to be the plant of life and worship it as a god! It is said that when Christopher Columbus discovered the Aloe plant he referred to it as his "Potted Physician". The glamorous Cleopatra regarded aloe vera as her beauty secret. Aloe was held in such reverence in Egypt that it was considered to be the "Plant of Immortality". Drawings of the aloe plant have even been found in the tombs of pharaohs.