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 leaves. …
