Species: Aloe barbadensis, Aloe capensis Family: Asphodelaceae, order Liliales Description: medicinal plant, monocot Resources: none

Information:

References: Jia,Y. et al. 2008 ; Liao, S. et al. 2004 ; Meyer, H.J. and van Staden, J. 1991 ;
           Parmar, V.R. and Jasrai, Y.T. 2009 ; Aggarwal, D. and Barna, K.S. 2004 ;
           He, C. et al. 2007 ; Koike, T. et al. 1995 ; Akev, N. et al. 2007

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	Genus Aloe is comprised of numerous flowering species. While varying in size and appearance, they share succulent leaves, often with spiny margins, and yellow to red raceme-like inflorescences.
	Aloe is today widespread in Latin and South Americas and is planted in several States
	Today's opinion is that most Aloe species originate from Africa and Arabian peninsula, some of the species occurring exclusively in selected regions
	To survive, aloe needs to adapt to its mostly dry and hot habitat. Because water losses are highest from leaves (as they possess the largest surface and stomata), their metamorphosis is most prominent
	Aloe is cultivated for various human uses
	The most valued organ is the leaf of aloe
	Aloe looks back at a long history of medicinal application. Today, it is also a popular ingredient of cosmetics and health drinks
	For the different applications, different constituents of aloe leaves have to be isolated. The bitter purgative aloes and the chromones are localized in the outer layer, so-called leaf sap
	The inner core contains a gel rich in bioactive acetylated polysaccharides. The main ingredient of the gel is, however, water
	Propagation by rhizome cuttings is facile and often the preferred option.
	Since aloe is an important species for humans, protocols for micropropagation and transformation have been developed to ensure its conservation and facilitate genetic manipulations

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Last updated: 07 August 2009