Flowering aloes, Graaf-Reinet dam, Eastern Cape province

Aloe is a genus containing about four hundred species of flowering succulent plants. The most common and well known of these is Aloe vera, or "true aloe".

It is native to Africa, and is common in South Africa's Cape Province, the mountains of tropical Africa, and neighbouring areas such as Madagascar, the Arabian peninsula, and the islands off Africa.

Aloes are frequently cultivated as ornamental plants, and many species are highly decorative and valued by collectors of succulents. Aloe vera is used both internally and externally on humans, and is claimed to have some medicinal effects to cure some types of cancer, which have been supported by scientific and medical research.

PHOTO SOURCE: Hein von Horsten, courtesy of, and copyright, South Africa Tourism, a department of the government of South Africa, used with permission.

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