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 was because he wanted to use it as a treatment for sunburns, cuts, wounds and other accidents liable to occur on board ship. Although Aloes are mentioned twice in his logs of 1492, there is some doubt as to what plant Columbus was referring. In fact it is more likely he was carrying the Agave plant, which has also been used for healing purposes and which is easily mistaken for Aloe vera by the uninitiated. At that period Aloe vera was not known to exist in Northern America except in Florida, Texas and California. There are, however, other records which suggest that Columbus documented the presence of Aloe in Cuba and other Caribbean islands.
Ponce de Leon, the 15th-century Spanish explorer, went to America in search of ‘the fountain of youth’. The native Seminole people of Florida showed him Aloe and its many uses, including its benefits as a digestive aid, hair-restorer and life-giving tonic. According to the native Americans, the elixir of long life resided in a pool in the middle of a cluster of Aloe vera leaves!
An Aloe by Any Other Name…
Aloe is known throughout many cultures by different poetic names, many of which reflect its legendary association with immortality. The origin of the word is generally traced to the Arabic word ‘alloeh’ which means ‘bitter and shiny substance’. There are other possible sources, but this seems to be the most plausible. As the ancients used either the sap or the ground leaf, in both instances the result is a shiny and bitter substance. In Hebrew it is referred to as ‘halal’ (or ‘allal – bitter) which means ‘shiny bitter substance’, as does the Syrian name for it, ‘alwai’. In ancient Hebrew it was called ‘ahaloth’.
The ancient Chinese considered the plant to have major therapeutic qualities and called it the ‘Harmonic Remedy’. In 9th-century China, the leaves were said to look like the ‘tail of a giant crab’. Chinese Materia Medica refer to Aloe vera either as Aloe chinensis or Aloe vulgaris. Knowledge of the plant seemed to be predominantly in the province of Canton, as it entered China through the trading port of Canton. It was ‘much used in the worm-fever and convulsions of children’ and for skin infections, mixed with liquorice.2 The Chinese referred to the plant as having come from Persia, Java and Sumatra. In 1985, in a contemporary Chinese herbal, Him-che Yeung refers to Aloe vera as having anti-cancer properties,