Aloe ferox

Plant Trivia
Written By Dr Carin Basson

More Aloe ferox Trivia by SmartHerbals:

  • Aloe ferox has been depicted in San rock paintings

  • South Africa exports more than 5000 tonnes of Aloe ferox

  • The well-known laxative effect of the bitter aloin is caused by bacteria in the gut converting aloin to aloe-emodin

  • South Africa is one of the centres of diversity for Aloe species, of which there are over 120

  • Aloe ferox is a protected species under CITES, due to its popularity in trade, which would threaten its wild populations

  • Harvesting aloe leaves is a sustainable practice, since it does not kill the plant. Even better, modern usage of Aloe ferox gel means that no part of the harvested leaves is wasted.

  • Unlike Aloe vera, Aloe ferox is very spiny when young, but will gradually need less spines as it grows taller, mainly having spines along the leaf edge - this probably contributed to its scientific name ("ferox" means "fierce")


Sources:

Chen, Weiyang, et al. "Cape aloes—a review of the phytochemistry, pharmacology and commercialisation of Aloe ferox." Phytochemistry Letters 5.1 (2012): 1-12.

Van Wyk, Ben-Erik. "Uses of aloe in traditional and modern medicine." Aloe 50 (2013): 1-2.

Grace, O. M. "Current perspectives on the economic botany of the genus Aloe L.(Xanthorrhoeaceae)." South African Journal of Botany 77.4 (2011): 980-987.

South African National Biodiversity InstitutePlantZAfricaAloe ferox Mill.

Image: Adobe Stock - Ava Peattie

Dr Carin Basson

A plant molecular biologist by training, Dr Basson loves learning new things, and applying her research skills to discovering interesting and trustworthy information about a variety of topics in the biosciences.

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