Hey tuffy, thanks for writing. Aloe vera is mighty good its true. The leaves are soft and the gel is copious. There are other Aloe species where this is also the case. Sinkatana and arborescens are just 2 examples of many. And, don’t forget the bulbines. They are extremely soft of leaf, have no spines and well-developed gel. Lacking spines really is nice. richo

Are there significant differences in medicinal value of these different species?
The thing with Aloe Vera, is that it is a “softer” plant than the pure forms. And that SEEMS easier to use. The green parts are softer and less bitter looking; the gel copious and again, soft. Am I mistaken in thinking this might be more useful and medicinal overall?

Thanks

Hi Richo, I was wrong it was aloe arborescens and aloe ferox seeds that I had gotten from you. Not sinkatana. And it was more like 3 years that I’ve had the seeds. Not surprisingly I haven’t have any luck germinating them. I’d like to get more fresh arborescens seeds from you and try again very soon….

Side note…. the aloe vera x vera hybrid I got from you in 2016 is very vigorous in growth. Different in structure than either Aloe vera or the chinesis variety I have. But still similar. I can’t wait til it flowers. It’s greener (less glacous) than my aloe veras and bigger and longer leaved than my aloe vera x chinesis. Thanks for making it available!

Thanks, Brian. Aloe seeds remain viable for about a year. We change our entire stock yearly to the new harvest.

Hi Richo,

Thanks for the article. It feels good that I am not the only one thinking about the origins of the “true” aloe and how it lost its ability to self fertilize. Hybrid origins sound very plausible.

It’s a deep thought to think that if aloe vera is a hybrid and it has been passed through offshoots from something like the 4th century BC is mind boggling. It makes me wonder if the large scale farms in places like India, Dominican Republic, Canary Islands etc… if they use the EXACT same Aloe Vera plant that can be traced back to the same original hybridized mother plant?

I bought an aloe vera x aloe vera hybrid from you 2 years ago. I repotted it last night and had 16 offshoots!

I also have several different aloe seeds from you like a. sinkata that I haven’t germinated yet from 2 years ago. I may have waited too long on those. Any idea on how long they are viable?

At this point it would be Aloe ferox, which has both the mucilage and the anthraquinone constituents in good amounts. We have plenty of seed of this and the germination has been recently confirmed. Aloe ferox grows relatively fast and can be done indoors.