One Large healthy plant with leaves 10" to 11” in length with established root systems. The plants that will need to be potted on arrival (POT NOT INCUDED). 

Often called the "Medicine Plant, "Miracle Plant" or the "Natural Healer", Aloe Vera is a plant of many surprises. It flourishes in warm and dry climates, and many people mistake it for a cactus, but in fact it is a member of the Lily family. It stays moist where other plants would wilt and die, closing its pores to prevent the loss of moisture.

Indigenous to Africa, today Aloe Vera is grown and harvested in many areas of the world, from Asia through to the Caribbean, Mexico and the United States of America.

Aloe Vera - The History

Ancient records show that the benefits of Aloe Vera have been known for centuries. Its therapeutic and healing properties have survived more than 5000 years.
George Ebers first discovered its antiquity in 1862, in an Egyption papyrus dated 1500 BC. Greek and Roman physicians such as Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder used it to great effect as a medicinal herb. Researchers have also found the ancient Chinese and Indian cultures used Aloe Vera. Egyptian queens associated its use with their quest for physical beauty, whilst in the Philippines it is used with milk for kidney infections. Aloes are referred to in the bible, and legend suggests that Alexander the Great even conquered the island of Socroto in the Indian Ocean so that he had a supply of aloes available to treat the battle wounds of his soldiers. However the rapid improvement of documented medical science in the western world, and the movement towards less temperate climates, led to a decline in the popularity and availability of Aloe Vera and it fell into disuse.

Nowadays, although chemical medicines are very effective in healing, long term use and complicated interactions with other drugs can cause terrible side effects for patients. Consequently more consumers and scientists are turning back to look at more traditional, and often natural, therapies which, for so long, have been neglected. As a result, Aloe Vera is once again attracting attention as it can provide many benefits to our health and lifestyle.

Aloe Vera - The Facts

Aloe Vera "gel" (leaf sap), obtained from the inner core of the spiky leaves of the plant, contains over 75 known ingredients. If you slice an apple and leave it open to the air, the fruit quickly discolours. So it is with aloe; in the wild the inner leaf gel is well protected by the fleshy outer rind that prevents moisture loss and protects it from the atmosphere. Once the leaf is cut, the process of oxidation begins and, if left unchecked, would rob the precious gel of many of its beneficial properties.
Aloe Vera is a succulent, looking rather like a cactus but is in fact a member of the lily family related to onions, garlic and asparagus. Inside it can be grown in a very bright, indirect light window. Water thoroughly when dry.

Aloe Vera gel contains over 75 known ingredients which can be divided into the following groups:

• Vitamins - It contains a wide range, but the most important ones are the antioxidant vitamins C and E and Beta Carotene, the precurser of Vitamin A. It is also one of the few plant sources in the world of Vitamin B12.
• Minerals -These include magnesium, manganese, zinc, copper, chromium, calcium, sodium, potassium and iron.
• Amino Acids -The human body requires 22 amino acids, the building blocks of proteins and Aloe Vera gel provides 20 of them. More importantly, it provides seven of the eight essential amino acids that cannot be manufactured by the body and which, therefore, have to be consumed as food.
• Sugars -These include the important long chain polysacchorides which act on the immune system to boost its effects.
• Enzymes -Lipases and proteases which break down food and aid digestion as well as carboxpeptidase that is involved in the inflammatory process.
• Plant Sterols -The three main types act as powerful anti-inflammatory agents.
• Lignin -This woody substance bestows on Aloe Vera its penetrative ability to reach deep into the skin.
• Saponins- These are soapy substances that exert a powerful anti-microbial effect against bacteria, viruses, fungi and yeasts such as candida and thrush.
• Anthraquinones -The most important ones being aloin and emodin, but altogether they are strong painkillers, and are acknowledged to possess anti-bacterial and viruscidal activity. In their pure form, they are very powerful laxatives.
• Salycylic Acid -This asprin-like compound is anti-inflammatory and topically helps to break down dead tissue.