Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Cure All?

Aloe barbadensis (Aloe vera)

The curative powers of Aloe vera date back 6,000 years to early Egyptian civilization. Shown on stone carvings, it served as a burial gift to deceased pharaohs, and its benefits documented in one form or another throughout history.

If you do a Google search on A. vera, you’ll find almost 4,000,000 hits. With so much information available, I’ll not waste time writing about the curative powers attributed to A. vera. Billions of dollars are spent worldwide on the plant and products from the plant. It seems most everyone has a plant available for use on burns, or else uses a product that contains A. vera.


A. vera is a fast growing, freely offsetting plant that is drought resistant. It prefers light shade in Phoenix. Damaged at freezing temperatures, it should receive protection when the thermometer dips. It is an excellent container plant, and it is drought resistant. However, if it is kept for medicinal use, regular, but not too much, watering will plump up the leaves to provide more gel.

3 comments:

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Such a wonderful plant! Isn't it great how mother nature provides everything we need? I use aloe vera cream every day!

Dawn said...

I am visiting from Nikkipolani. I will be honest, I came over because you signed out there as Alyana, and it is a rare name and the middle name of my youngest although we spell it with an 'i'. We have some Aloe Vera plants. My mom's were reproducing quite well, and bloomed last winter. It was the first time we had seen one bloom here in the cold north where they are houseplants. I have read about the other aloes too, so learnt a little about plants today. Thank you.

Julie said...

I have 100% aloe vera gel in a bottle I use for sunburn...but of course, I try and avoid that first!