Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f.

Family       : Liliaceae

Common Name : കറ്റാർ വാഴ (Mal)

             Indian aloe  (Eng)

    घीकुमारी 

Perennial succulent herbs; stem short, producing suckers at the base. Leaves radical, aggregated, to 30 x 2-4 cm, ensiform, fleshy, sparsely dentate on margins. Racemes terminal; peduncles to 1 m long; bracts to 1.5 cm, ovate, scarious. Flowers reflexed, reddish; pedicels to 1 cm. Perianth tube, 2.5-3 cm, lobes 6, almost equaling the tube. Staminal tube 3 cm. Ovary 8 mm, ovoid 3-loculed; ovules many in each locule; style elongated, stigma obscurely 3-lobed. Capsule about 1.5 cm long.

Aloe, a popular houseplant, has a long history as a multipurpose folk remedy. Commonly known as Aloe vera, the plant can be snapped off and placed on cuts and burns for immediate relief. Aloe vera is a clump forming succulent whose fleshy gray-green leaves are arranged in a vase shaped rosette atop a very short stem. The leaves are up to 18 in long and 2 in wide at the base, slightly grooved on top, and terminating in a sharp point. The leaves have small grayish teeth on the margins. The main rosette gets up to about 2 ft high, and the plant continually produces little offset rosettes. In winter and spring, medicinal aloe bears small tubular yellow flowers on branched stalks up to 3 ft tall. The real Aloe vera has yellow flowers, but many of the clones available have orange flowers. Although Aloe Vera is a member of the Lily family, it is very-cactus like in its characteristics.