Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f.

Medicinal aloe, aloe vera, Barbados aloe

Aloe vera is native to northern Africa, the Canary Islands, and Cape Verde. It is naturalized, likely introduced, in temperate and tropical regions of Australia, India, Vietnam, Taiwan, Barbados, Belize, Nigeria, Paraguay and the USA. It is common enough in some areas to be considered invasive. It is a common house plant as well.

Plants: Medicinal aloe is by far the best known of the Aloe species, widely cultivated for its medicinal properties. Plants have short woody stems.

Leaves: Compact rosettes are 2–3′ (60–100 cm) tall. Leaves are alternate, 4–20″ long ⨉ ⅜–2½″ broad (10–50 ⨉ 1–7 cm), wider at the base and tapering to a tip. They are bluish or gray-green, occasionally mottled with purple or white spots, and sometimes serrated with small teeth on leaf edges.

Flowers: Inflorescences appear on erect spikes 3–5′ (1–1.5 m) tall. Usually the spike has scale-like bracts. Racemes of flowers are cylindrical, yellow or orange, with tubular corollas ¾–1″ (2–3 cm) long.

Fruits: Capsules are somewhat elongated, usually producing no seeds. It spreads primarily by offsets.

Habitats: Hammocks and sandy areas in arid climates, at elevations of 4265–8530′ (1.3–2.6 km).

Edibility: Potentially poisonous if ingested, especially to pregnant women or those with allergies.

Medical: The gel-like leaf sap is used to treat minor burns and wounds, and may have application in the treatment of diabetes and elevated blood lipids. There are many other uses as well. However, there is little hard scientific evidence in support of these uses.

Very similar species.

Online References:

Online References:

Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f. on Wikipedia

Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f. at the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Older scientific or horticultural names

Aloe vera description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.

© FloraFinder.org. All rights reserved.