Aloe ferox (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Aloe ferox Miller

Protologue: Gard. Dict. ed. 8: n. 22 (1768).

Vernacular names

• Cape aloe (En).

Distribution

Indigenous over a vast area in South Africa. Plants introduced in the Malesian region probably originate from the Dutch East India Company's garden in the Cape. A. ferox is cultivated in Java.

Uses

A. ferox is the source of "Cape aloe". Medicinal uses of fresh A. ferox in South-East Asia are probably similar to those reported for A. vera. In Africa, the inspissated leaf juice is used as a purgative in human and veterinary medicine and fresh juice is applied in cases of ophthalmia and syphilis. The flower nectar is said to be narcotic. The leaves have also been used in South Africa to make a jam tasting like watermelon jam.

Observations

• A perennial succulent shrub, up to 3(-5) m tall, usually with a single stem, densely covered with the persistent remains of the old leaves.
• Leaves 50-60 in a dense capitate rosette, lanceolate, up to 100 cm × 15 cm, fleshy, upper surface flat, lower surface convex, smooth to spiny, margins sinuate-dentate, dull green, sometimes tinged red.
• Inflorescence branched with 5-8 erect racemes, racemes very densely flowered, 50-80 cm × 9-12 cm.
• Flowers with a dark red to orange perianth, filaments and style exserted.

In its native area A. ferox is a rather variable species.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I- Z) pp. 1241-2444.
• Dharma, A.P., 1981. Indonesische geneeskrachtige planten [Indonesian medicinal plants]. De Driehoek, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 168 pp.
• Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• Hoffman, M.T., 1988. The pollination ecology of Aloe ferox Mill. South African Journal of Botany 54(4): 345-350.
• Mansfeld, R., 1986. Verzeichnis landwirtschaflicher und gaertnerischer Kulturpflanzen (ohne Zierpflanzen) [Register of agricultural and horticultural plants (withouth ornamentals)]. 2nd Edition, revised by J. Schultze Motel. 4 volumes. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1998 pp.
• Oldfield, S. (Compiler), 1997. Cactus and Succulent Plants--status survey and conservation action plan. IUCN/SSC Cactus and Succulent Specialist Group, IUW, Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, United Kingdom. 222 pp.
• Racchi, M.L., 1988. Using in vitro culture to study the biosynthesis of secondary products in Aloe ferox. Rivista di Agricoltura Subtropicale e Tropicale 82(4): 707-714.
• Reynolds, G.W., 1966. The Aloes of Tropical Africa and Madagascar. The Trustees the Aloe Book Fund, Swaziland. 537 pp.
• Reynolds, G.W., 1982. The Aloes of South Africa, 4th Edition. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 538 pp.
• Reynolds, T., 1985. The compounds in Aloë leaf exudates: a review. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 90: 157-177.
• van Wyk, B.E., van Rheede van Oudtshoorn, M.C.B. & Smith, G.F., 1995. Geographical variation in the major compounds of Aloe ferox leaf exudate. Planta Medica 61: 250 253.
• Watt, J.M. & Breyer Brandwijk, M.G., 1962. The medicinal and poisonous plants of southern and eastern Africa--being an account of their medicinal and other uses, chemical composition, pharmacological effects and toxicology in man and animal. Livingstone, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. 1457 pp.
• Wijnands, D.O., 1983. The Botany of the Commelins. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. 232 pp.
• Winter, K. & Smith, J.A.C. (Editors), 1996. Crassulacean acid metabolism: biochemistry, ecophysiology and evolution. Ecological Studies, Vol. 114. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 449 pp.

Main genus page

• Aloe (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• N.O. Aguilar & M. Brink