The Arabs called it the ‘Desert Lily’. The Knights Templar, who drank a heady mixture of palm wine, aloe pulp and hemp, called it the ‘Elixir of Jerusalem’, attributing their longevity and health to it.
In Japan Aloe vera is popularly called ‘No Need of a Doctor’; in Java it is known as ‘Crocodile’s Tongue’, and in Malaysia as ‘Mother-in-law’s tongue’ – no doubt referring to its bitter taste and the pointed sharp leaves! Infinitely more poetic is ‘The Wand of Heaven’ as it was known in Egypt. Elsewhere it has been called ‘Heaven’s blessing plant’, the ‘Mystical plant’ or ‘Miracle plant’, the ‘Magic medicine plant’ and the ‘Flow of Life’. It is more accurately known as the ‘Burn plant’ in current terminology or the ‘First Aid plant’, ‘Wound-healing plant’ and ‘Man’s natural medicine chest’. In contemporary America it is known as ‘the Silent Healer’.
Like the Egyptians, the native Seminole people of Florida, and native Mexicans, call Aloe vera the ‘Plant of Immortality’. The Russians echo the ancient Egyptians’ praise of Aloe vera by calling it the ‘Elixir of Longevity’. So revered and beloved has this plant been throughout different cultures and periods in our history that the list of names goes on and on, all praising Aloe vera’s qualities in a practical or poetic fashion.
The Elixir of Longevity
The claim to Aloe being an aid to longevity was borne out by an extraordinary Frenchman in the last century, a philosopher and a practitioner of medicine, a man administering to the poor in the belief that medicines should not be prohibitive, nor health the privilege of the rich:
During the 20 years that I have been treating my patients with Aloe, I have found that there are many diseases described by the doctors of antiquity which disappear rapidly when I administer Aloe in the form of granules or powder. Therefore, the good results which I have always obtained allow me to quote the adage of Roger Bacon: ‘Do you wish to live as long as Noah? Then take some pills of Aloah!’3
François Vincent Raspail (1794–1878)
In a more profound sense, Aloe vera’s symbolic association with long life and immortality, its association with embalming and the transition between one life and the next, may lie in the renewing nature of the plant itself. J Norris in the Garden Journal (New York Botanical Garden, 1973) wrote:
If a plant is able to heal its own wounds, to survive without nourishment, even seemingly to return from the dead, might not its power somehow be applicable to man’s own maladies?4
ALOE VERA
Aloe has appeared in all the most advanced Materia Medica of the great ancient civilizations: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Greece, Rome as well as in China and India. These civilizations were trustees of knowledge concerning the healing powers of Aloe vera, a knowledge which they passed on to their successors living around the Mediterranean region and subsequently to the whole of the Western world. They in turn traded with Africa, where the majority of Aloes have originated: thus the story of Aloe goes full circle…
Africa is the source of many varieties of the Aloe plant, and so it is natural that it features strongly in the ethnographic lore of both the North and South. A number of tribal uses for the plant have been documented, and anthropologists report on the widespread use of Aloe among the tribes of southern Africa – the Zulus, the Sutos and the Xhosa being the best known. The Aloes used vary regionally and are not popularly known except for Aloe ferox; Aloe macracantha; Aloe tenuior Haw., Aloe marlothii A. Berg and Aloe variegata L., are among those that have been used traditionally.
The Sutos tribes use Aloe as a natural antiseptic. When colds or influenza become a threatening epidemic, a public bath infused with Aloe is taken by the villagers. The plant is used as protection against lightning, by sprinkling burnt, crushed and boiled bits of the plant around the village. Barren Suto women drink a concoction from Aloe juice to aid their fertility. Nor is its use limited to tribe-members alone. If their animals are wounded, ash from the burnt leaves of Aloe is placed on the ground beneath the injured limb to hasten healing.
The fresh juice from the Aloe leaf is used by the Sutos, Zulus and Xhosa to treat eye infections, applied directly to the eye. In the Transvaal, an Aloe variegata infusion in brandy is used to treat haemorrhoids.
The Zulu women in South Africa use Aloe to help wean their babies, by spreading the bitter gel on their breasts. A decoction of the Aloe arborescens leaf is given to Zulu women just before they give birth, to aid the birth process. (In the Transvaal, a vinous extract of Aloe sp. is used for abortive purposes). The Zulus also use the plant, steeped in water, as an enema to clean out the intestines. Even the flowers of the plant are not wasted. Ground up into powder, which is then steeped in 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