gel/juice, used extensively in healing.
The leaves themselves can also be dried and made into powder (for use in beauty products). All medical aloes, however, produce a typical bitter yellowish or reddish sap which is their common characteristic.
All Aloes are part of a larger genus called Xeroids, which implies an ability to ‘shut down’ the pores (or ‘stomata’, tiny openings in the epidermis of the leaf) to ensure that water is retained within the plant. In this way they can survive long periods without water. This same ability to close the stomata in the leaf also apparently facilitates the almost miraculous closing of any wound or damage to the outer skin of the plant. The power to heal itself so rapidly and re-grow in another direction doubtless pointed the way to its use as a wound treatment.
The Aloe vera plant takes about four years to mature, by which time the gel in the outer leaves is at its most potent. When fully grown the individual leaves can reach a height of 60 to 90 cm (2 to 3 ft) and each leaf can weigh approximately 1.5 to 2 kg (3 to 4 lb). Each plant usually has 12 to 16 leaves. As a perennial, Aloe vera lives for about 12 years. When the outer leaves are harvested, up to three times a year, the plant is able to close itself down against water loss. Within a few seconds of being cut, the plant films over the wound and a protective coating forms which stops loss of sap. The outer leaves are always harvested first, allowing the inner leaves time to develop their ripeness and potency.
Although Aloe is ideally suited to growing in hot, arid climates, it can be grown in glasshouses or indoors in Europe. As it is frost-sensitive it should always be kept in warm conditions, requiring a minimum temperature of 7–10°C (45–50°F). However, although frost can kill them, the plants seldom die simply from exposure to cold unless they are very young. Tree Aloes and shrubs with a spread over 30 cm (1 ft) prefer full sun; most smaller species require partial shade. The plant also requires very well-drained soil. Ideally, in warmer climates it likes sun for at least two hours a day, porous or sandy soil and exposure to the wind. The wind actually conditions and strengthens the thick meaty leaves.
The Aloe is easily propagated since at the base of the plant, suckers or ‘pups’ grow which can be separated to make new cuttings. Apart from their requirement for warmth, an Aloe vera plant is very easy to maintain as a house plant or conservatory specimen. Watering should be infrequent and less so during winter months. Like orchids, Aloes can be killed by too much care and water!
ALOE VERA
Aloe vera has been in use for over 5,000 years. Throughout the ages it has maintained its reputation as being a seemingly magical plant, able to cure all or almost all ailments. As such, it is natural that it has given birth to a plethora of legendary tales, some which have their root in fact while others belong to the realm of myth.
The Early Egyptians, Hebrews and Greeks
Known as the ‘Plant of Immortality’ by the early Egyptians, there are tales that Aloe was used in the embalming process and also in the burial rites of the Pharaohs. In addition, the beauty of Nefertiti and Cleopatra was attributed to the use of Aloe. Cleopatra apparently owed her extraordinary good looks to bathing in a mixture of Aloe gel and goat’s milk. Aloe, finely powdered, was also said to have been used to make her eyes bright in the same way we use eyebright nowadays. The Pharaohs believed that the plant had magic powers and assigned it a royal status within their household.
As for its uses in embalming, it might well be that Aloe is being confused with aloeswood, Lignum (or Lignin) Aloes, from the East African Aloes tree (Aquilaria agallocha). The oil from Lignum aloes was used by the Hebrews to perfume their beds, anoint their bodies and cover the smell of decaying flesh during the burial ceremony. The same myth persists in Biblical references which claim that Aloe was used in the embalming of Christ:
And there came also, Nicodemus, which at the first came Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight … Then they took the body of Jesus and wound it in linen cloth with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. [John 19:39–40]
One of the earliest and most popular surviving legends is that Alexander the Great, after his conquest of Persia in 333 BC, was persuaded by his tutor Aristotle to conquer the island of Socotra in order to obtain Aloe plants. Socotra lies off the east coast of Africa between Aden and Somalia. It is said that Alexander drove the inhabitants off the island and used the plant in his military campaigns, as a healing balm for his soldiers’ wounds. This Aloe was known as Aloe succotrina, which is one of the earliest classifications of Aloe vera. Reputedly there were five Aloe vera plantations on Socotra, which apparently traded with China, India, Tibet and Malaysia. It is questionable indeed whether Alexander actually engaged in such a conquest, as records suggest that this island lies 1,500 miles south of Alexander’s known conquests.
Eastern Cultures
Claims that Aloe vera was taken into Tibet from Socotra also appear to be unsubstantiated in Tibetan medicine. Popular references denote Aloe as ‘jelly leeks’ in Tibet. The only reference to ‘jelly leeks’ being used in areas close to Tibet is in 1943 by Colonel M Thomas Tchou of Tzechow, which lies in Western China at the foothills of the Himalayas. In 1901 he used Aloe gel on a burnt hand, as recommended by his aunt. His sores healed. Some 38 years later Tchou met a Dr Cole in Cleveland, Ohio, who advised him to use Aloe vera to treat ulceration caused by radiation. Immediately Tchou then recognized that it was the same plant his aunt had given him so many years before in China.
While Aloe vera was used in India and China, it is possible that what was referred to in Tibet was aloeswood, which is used for the making of incense or medicine. In Ayurvedic medicine, aloeswood (Aquilaria agallocha) is known in Hindi as Agar and in Sanskrit as Agaru; Tibetan medicine employs Agar as a treatment for hyper-activity and to induce restful sleep. Chronicler Ain-i-Abari reported during the reign of the Moghul Emperor Akbar (about 1595) that ‘Aloeswood is often used in compound perfumes. When eaten, it is exhilarating. It is generally employed in incense. The better qualities, powdered, are used for rubbing into the skin and clothes.’1 Agar forms the Indian word for incense – agarbati, or ‘lighted aloeswood’. In Ayurvedic medicine the powdered wood of the Aloe tree is used as a skin tonic and as a gentle antiseptic for ear and eye infections, as well as for open wounds. These medical uses could easily provide an explanation for the confusion with Aloe vera.
Aphrodisiac qualities are also attributed to Aloe in the classical Indian guide to sexuality, the Kama Sutra. In China too, Aloe vera has been traditionally mixed with liquorice to be drunk as a tonic. These cultures believed that Aloe vera possessed magical properties conducive to good health, happiness, sexual prowess and long life. Like the Chinese who drank Aloe vera to enhance their sexual prowess, the Roman Emperor Tiberius purportedly drank Aloe vera juice to increase his potency! Thousands of miles away, the native American Navajos also extolled its energizing sexual qualities, as did members of certain South American tribes. Although it is easy to exaggerate these claims, contemporary studies in sexuality have shown that there is a close link between levels of virility and nutrition. Since Aloe vera is extremely rich in nutrients, this is not such an unlikely or unfounded use for the plant. Furthermore, the Russians have been using Aloe successfully to treat male impotence (see First Aid section).
The New World
In the popular imagination, Christopher Columbus has also been traditionally linked with Aloe vera. Perhaps the best known of all these ‘legends’ is that Columbus carried Aloe vera plants on his first voyage to the New World. This
