Aloe arborescens Mill.

Kucab, Anna, 2024, Aloe arboresCens, Aronia melanoCarpa, Rosa Canina, SambUCUs nigra - immunostimulating properties and use in phytotherapy, Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis Studia Naturae 9, pp. 191-208 : 192-193

Aloe arborescens Mill.

It is a perennial, evergreen succulent from the family Asphodelaceae Burnett (it can reach up to 5 m in height, growing as a strongly branched subshrub), with thick, fleshy and lanceolate leaves, with prickly serrated edges; inside them, there is a water storage tissue filled with mucus. The leaves are arranged spirally and embrace the stem with a wide base; their colour is grey-green, covered with a blue bloom. The stem is straight, slightly woody and at its base grow numerous root suckers, used for vegetative reproduction. In pots, aloes bloom extremely rarely, while in natural locations or large-area cultivations, the plant produces a flowering shoot, at the top of which appears a racemose inflorescence, composed of many yellow -orange or red tubular-bell-shaped flowers (similar to Aloe vera Mill. – Fig. 1A–B ).

The fruit is a multi-seeded capsule ( Bełdowska, Guzewska, 1987; Senderski, 2017;

Mederska, 2023).

The raw material used in medicine is fresh aloe leaves ( Aloe arborescentis recens folium) and the juice obtained from them ( Aloe inspissatus succus ), which after drying takes the form of brown lumps called alona ( Dymarska, 2016). Interestingly, species related to Aloe arborescens have similar properties ( A. ferox Mill. , A. africana Mill. , A. variegata Forssk. and A. vera ). To obtain the highest possible content of biostimulants (compounds with immunostimulating effects), the leaves should be obtained from specimens that are at least three years old and it is best to collect the lowest, the oldest ones. In addition, aloe should not be watered for about 2 weeks before harvesting, and after harvesting, the leaves are stored for several days in cold stores before further use, which allows for conditions conducive to biochemical changes ( Fijołek, 2016).

Figures

Fig. 1. Aloe vera Mill.with yellow inflorescences – A, large-scale plantation of Aloe vera in Gran Canaria, Spain, 2022 r. – B, Aronia melanocarpa fruit, Germany, 2007 r. – C, false fruits of the Rosa canina (hypanthium) – D, ripe elderberries of Sambucus nigra – E (A–B, D–E – Photo. A.Kucab, C – Source: commons. wikimedia.org – public domain)