Plant Story--Vera Aloe, Aloe vera

Vera aloe has been a household remedy for burns for millennia. It still works.

Vera aloe, Aloe vera

Vera aloe is a tropical plant--it needs the temperatures to stay above 40oF--so it has always been an exotic plant to me, seen mainly as a house plant. However, where the conditions are good for it, it spreads, sometimes into big patches. 

vera aloe patch, Honolulu, Hawaii

I like its name very much. The scientific name of vera aloe is Aloe vera (in the aloe or grasstree family Asphodelaceae). I cannot think of another plant where the common name and scientific name are the reverse of each other. Vera is Latin for "true" so, both ways, it is "true aloe." The word "aloe" itself is from the Arabic word alloeh, their name for the plant. It is the same word as the aloe of the Old Testament of the Bible, but that is a tree, alternately called agarwood Aquilaria agallocha (mezereum family, Thymeleaceae). Nevertheless aloe vera was well-known in biblical times; it was used as part of embalming materials in ancient Egypt and combined with myrrh (Commiphora, Burseraceae) in the Bible's New Testament to treat the body of Jesus. 

American aloe (Agave americana, agave family Agavaceae) is a New World plant not related to vera aloe. It has a similar appearance, but is quite different chemically. Both adapted to desert climates and they converged on the same leaf and flower stalk characteristics. 

In addition to unrelated plants using the same name, there are some 500 species in the genus Aloe, found in dry places from Africa to India, as herbs, shrubs, and small trees. Thus, it is useful to say, vera aloe, the true aloe. 

vera aloe, Aloe vera

A succulent with thick juicy leaves and great drought-tolerance, vera aloe is native somewhere in the Arabian Peninsula, but it was long ago exported: to India and Asia, to the Roman Empire and southern Europe, to the Caribbean, tropical South America, and Australia. No wild populations on Arabian Peninsula are known and it is thought to be extinct there. 

Vera aloe is an important herbal remedy all over the world. The thick leaves contain a clear gel which is soothing to burns and skin irritations. The drying gel forms a protective layer and contains compounds that reduce pain and inflammation. The plant grows well in a pot, if kept warm enough, and does not need a lot of water, so is easy to have available for household injuries such as burns. 

vera aloe leaves

A bitter yellow liquid, called drug aloe or aloe juice, is pressed from the outer surfaces of the leaves. This has a long history as a purgative, but is not recommended today due to strong side effects. It is so bitter it was used in the 20th century to discourage children from chewing their nails. 

When growing well, vera aloe plants send up flower shoots with attractive flowers, variously described as yellow or orange.

When even happier, the flower stalk can branch, with even more flowers. 

The edges of leaves and flower stalks have prickles. They are easily ignored in a potted plant but uncomfortable if you walk across a patch in sandals or bare feet. In the dry conditions of Arabia, the prickles were important to protect them from grazing animals.

Vera aloe is the only Aloe all over the world today. One or two relatives are locally used, Aloe ferox in South Africa and Aloe perryi on the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean, but they are not grown much beyond their native range. Aloe vera is found in African, southern European, Indian, Chinese and tropical American medicines, as well as grown in pots as a medicine in temperate countries. Aloe vera is the same as Aloe barbadensis. Columbus took vera aloe on his voyages and apparently the plant did so well that a botanist thought it native to Barbados and called it A. barbadensis, making for years of confusion. All the species of aloe are said to have the same chemistry as Aloe vera (although I doubt all 500 species have been tested.)

Vera aloe produces a dye compound, aloe-emodin, variously yellow, brown or red, which, in addition to the soothing and healing properties of the solution, probably contributes to its use in homemade shampoos and hair rinses, although the color is not very concentrated. 

Vera aloe was reportedly one of Cleopatra's beauty secrets. 

African hunters covered their skin in aloe to conceal their human smell from their prey. (This is likely not vera aloe because of the many species of Aloe found across Africa, but would work with vera aloe.)

Folklore expands vera aloe's virtues to the whole house: its presence protects against accidents in the house and repels evil spirits. In parts of Africa, vera aloe was hung over the doorways for good luck and to keep away evil.

Never treated a burn or scrape with vera aloe? Try it when you get a chance. You'll understand why it has been taken all over the world. 

References

Aloe vera. no date given. Missouri Plant Finder.  link

Bynum. H. and W. Bynum. 2014. Remarkable Plants. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago, Illinois. 

Cunningham, S. 1984. Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. expanded and revised edition. Llewellyn Publishers. St. Paul, Minnesota.

Foster, S. And R. L. Johnson. 2006. Desk Reference to Nature's Medicine. National Geographic. Washington , D.C. 

Grace, O.M., S. Buerki, M. R.E. Symonds and others. 2015. Evolutionary history and leaf succulence as explanations for medicinal use in aloes and the global popularity of  Aloe vera. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 15:29 (DOI 10.1186/s12862-015-0291-7 (open access) (Accessed 12/27/25)

Kowalchik, C. and W. H. Hylton, editors.  1987. Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs. Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

Newton, L. 2020. Fake news--misinformation on Aloe vera. Cactus World. 38: 239-241. 

Kathy Keeler, A Wandering Botanist
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