water, it is used to treat feverish colds in children, either orally or as an enema. The flowers are also cooked by the Zulus and eaten. It is good for snuff: tobacco is mixed with the ash of the Aloe leaf. In addition, Aloe has traditionally been used in South Africa as a cure for venereal diseases.1
In general, a number of southern African tribes use Aloe for stomach problems. They drink ‘a decoction of the roots’ which can cause vomiting if taken in large amounts.2
The Xhosas and other tribes use Aloe to treat tape worm infection. It is considered effective with no side-effects. Both the gel and juice are used in the treatment of ringworm. It is also used as a purgative, a treatment for boils and sores. It is said that Xhosa children are fond of sucking the nectar-like juice out of the flowers, which is said to create weakness in the joints if taken over a long period. It also has a narcotic effect!
The southern African tribes use Aloe with their animals, in the treatment of scab with sheep and as a purgative. Aloe saponaria Haw., known as ‘White-spotted aloe’ or ‘Soap aloe’, is used in the treatment of ‘blood scours’ in calves and to treat indigestion and enteritis in fowls, both with excellent results. The Zulus believe that the smoke from burning leaves of Aloe protects cattle from the ill-effects of eating the wrong food.
In Africa and the East, the plant was even said to have been used to ward off evil spirits. Hung over the entrance to a house, it ensured a long life for its inhabitants. It could also be worn as an amulet around the neck to guarantee a happy and healthy life.
Richard Burton, the 19th-century explorer and naturalist, reported on his African travels that Aloe vera, suspended above one’s bed, was effective against mosquitoes. In Columbia the live plant is used in shops to repel flies and the juice is rubbed on children’s legs to protect them from insect bites. Recent research has shown Aloe vera to be an effective insect-repellent by virtue of its bitter taste and the unpleasant smell of the sap.
Aloes were depicted in rock paintings by the Bushmen in the early 18th century, according to Miss D F Bleek in her book, Rock Paintings in South Africa. These rock paintings were found near the Orange River in the Orange Free State, in a cave by a waterfall. Miss Bleek suggests that the Aloes depicted are Aloe ferox ‘Miller’ and Aloe broomii. Walter Battiss in his The Artists of the Rocks (1948) suggests that this ‘painting of Aloes is a most remarkable painting in the whole of the art. It belongs to the Last Period of Bushman Art.’3 The Aloes are shown clasped in the Bushmen’s hands like triumphal candelabras, two figures facing each other. Another figure holds it in his hand pointed to the earth, while another Bushman lies prostrate below a floating aloe. Two other Bushmen are shown hunting with large dominant buck, possibly antelope, behind them. This suggests that Aloes were an integral part of life and nourishment in the Bush, as important as hunting for survival. The juice of Aloe saponaria is still used by hunters in the Congo, in Central Africa, who smear their body with it before the hunt. The bitter smell of the Aloe juice masks the hunter’s smell and blocks perspiration, thus making the hunter more invisible to his prey. Aloe saponaria is also used in Southern Africa for healing battle or hunting wounds.
In the 9th century AD, Al-Kindi of Baghdad wrote The Medical Formulary, also known as ‘the Aqrabadhin of Al-Kindi’. Al-Kindi was known as the ‘philosopher of Arabia’. In The Medical Formulary he makes several references to the use of Aloe, particularly in relation to eye treatments. In all remedies, Aloe is mixed with other ingredients – for example, gold, red hematite and saffron, or myrrh and saffron along with soapwort, sweet marjoram and lycium juice – then pulverized and kneaded and made into pills. When required, the pills are dissolved in woman’s milk and oil of violet before being used. His remedies nearly always end with ‘It is good and effective with God’s help.’4
Al-Kindi records that the Arabs called Aloe vera sabir or sabr, while the Syrians called the plant sabhra or sebara. There is a valley in Lebanon known as the Sabhra Valley, which translates as the Valley of the Aloes. The two languages are similar and the meaning is the same in all cases – ‘bitter and shiny substance’. Aloe was, as ever, a well known purgative, but Al-Kindi also noted its anti-inflammatory action, its effective opthalmological uses (such as its effectiveness with eye ulcers) and its positive action as regarded melancholia. It was also helpful with dyspnoea or difficult breathing. As a purgative drug, Aloe was treated with caution. Aloe was also being used throughout the Middle East: in the lands around the Red Sea, Aloe latifolia was believed to cure both ringworm and impetigal infections.
A note of caution came from the mediaeval medical writer Mesue of Damascus, who gave a rather graphic report of side-effects which even included piles. One lurid story concerned Emperor Otto II, who took too much Aloe and died in AD 983.5
It is generally held that it was Arab traders who first brought Aloe vera to Persia and India about the 6th century BC. According to Chopra’s ‘Indigenous Drugs of India’, Aloe was already widely used in India during Hippocrates’ lifetime (460–375 BC), and its medicinal uses dated ‘back to the 4th century BC’.6 Early medical texts from India indicate its use for skin inflammations. A Portugese naturalist, Garcia da Orta, later described the Hindus using Aloe vera for ‘purgatives, in kidney disease, colic, and also for healing wounds’, including the treatment of eye sores.7 Aloe vera still plays an important role in the traditional medicine of India, where Aloe vera preparations are particularly important for their cathartic (purgative or laxative), stomachic (digestive), emmenagogic (aiding in menstruation) and anthelmintic (expelling intestinal worms) properties. In addition, Aloe vera gel is considered one of the most important tonics for the female reproductive system, the liver, heart and spleen.
From India, the use of Aloe vera probably spread to Java, Malaysia, Sumatra and to the rest of the East Indies. In Java it was applied as skin care on infections, sunburn and blisters, while Aloe barbadensis was taken internally for gonorrheal infections. In addition it was used internally for tuberculosis in much the same way as it was in Europe: as a popular cure for consumption. In Malaya, Aloe vera pulp was bound onto the forehead to relieve headaches; in the Philippines it was used to reduce swelling (oedema) in beri-beri sufferers. As in Europe, when mixed with wine it was considered effective in preventing hair loss. In the East Indies there are reports that Aloe vera was popular for treating conditions such as gout, or aches and pains in the joints and bones.
The same conditions were traditionally treated with Aloe in the Caribbean. It was used for skin care and to treat problems such as cuts, blisters, wounds and insect bites. Its use in internal ailments appears to have been taught by the missionaries and explorers. In the Caribbean today it is still used for both human and animal ailments. Apparently the leaf is sucked as though it were sugar cane! Aloe vera juice, fed to horses, makes the horses’ blood so bitter that ticks apparently fall off after the first bite! It is also used for delousing, repelling infestations and as a life-giving tonic during cattle birth trauma.
From India and the East Indies, the use of Aloe spread into the Canton province in China. No doubt it was also brought to China by Arab traders. Chinese medical texts refer to Aloe from the 7th century AD onwards; the first noted use was for healing dermatitis. Aloe vera was especially noted for its use as a treatment for sinusitis and worm fever, as well as for convulsions in children and skin afflictions such as eczema.
The Venetian Marco Polo, travelling through China in the 13th century, found Aloe vera was used to treat rashes and other skin disorders, as well as for stomach ailments. Today, although Aloe chinensis is one of the best known regional variations of the healing Aloes, Aloe arborescens is used to treat burns in China and Russia. In addition, Aloe arborescens has been used in Japan as a folk remedy for burns, insect bites, wound-healing, athlete’s foot and digestive complaints. In his Il Milione, Polo documents Aloe’s history and legend, tracing its
