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Article: Aloe Vera: Actually Two Very Different Herbs in One.
- Article from:
- Environmental Nutrition
- Article date:
- November 1, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Environmental Nutrition, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For many Americans, spreading gel from an aloe leaf on a burn is their first encounter with a medicinal herb, one that dates back to Mesopotamian times.
There are hundreds of species of aloe plants, but the most popular is Aloe vera, also taxonomically known as Aloe barbadensis, a relative of the lily. The aloe plant yields both aloe gel and aloe juice. This can be confusing, since the two terms are interchanged or misused in ads for aloe products. While they share certain chemical components, the gel and juice are distinctly different, with different properties and uses.
What it Might Do: The clear gel, or mucilage, comes from the inner part of aloe ...