- Family: Asphodelaceae (Liliaceae).
- Other names: Aloe, aloe vera, Barbados aloe, medicine plant, lily of the desert.
- Parts used: fresh leaves, gel extracted from fresh leaves, latex.
- Harvest: any time after the plant is 2 years old.
- Sustainability: no problems.
- Taste: grassy, slightly bitter.
- Preparations: juice, gel, infused oil/macerate, powder.
- Ph: 4.3.
- Compounds: vitamins (A, C, E, and B12), enzymes (amylase, catalase, and peroxidase), minerals (zinc, copper, selenium, and calcium), sugars (monosaccharides such as mannose-6-phosphate and polysaccharides such as glucomannans), anthraquinones (aloin and emodin), fatty acids (lupeol and campesterol), hormones (auxins and gibberellins), and others (salicylic acid, lignin, and saponins).
- Affinity systems: integumentary, digestive, and skeletal.
Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis Miller) is a green perennial plant with bright yellow tubular flowers that is widely distributed in the warm and dry areas of North Africa, Middle East of Asia, southern Mediterranean and Canary Islands. Because different parts of the Aloe vera plant are used to make different commercial preparations, there is a lot of confusion about them. The lack of clear and standardized nomenclature does not help.
Three main preparations are made from the Aloe vera plant: aloe leaf juice, inner leaf juice and aloe latex.
Aloe vera leaf juice is obtained by mechanically processing the whole leaf. The resulting liquid is then filtered to remove any insoluble components or residual contaminants. This process results in a viscous, juice-like substance from which up to 10 parts per million (ppm) or less of aloe latex has been removed for oral preparations and 50 ppm or less in cosmetic preparations.
Aloe vera inner leaf juice is obtained by removing the outer husk of the leaf and washing off the latex. The remaining gel is further processed and may contain pulp or be filtered to remove the pulp. If a thickening agent is added to create a final product known as 'aloe gel'. Aloe leaf juice may or may not be part of the final product.
Aloe vera latex is the bitter, yellow-brown sap found between the inner tissue of the plant parenchyma and the bark. Aloe vera latex seeps out of the bark when the plant is cut. Dried, it is used to make commercial products. Aloe latex contains anthraquinone, the substance responsible for the plant's laxative effects. Most literature, including pharmacopoeias, refers to aloe latex as aloe or aloe juice, which explains why there is so much confusion about aloe preparations.