h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Very pictures here. What did the Ndebele use the aloes for, Willem? I know that aloe is useful here for skin care products, did they plant them for producing tinder?

Hi Elektra! I am unable to get specifics on what the Ndebele communities that lived here used them for, but apart from using the dried leaves as kindling I have a list of uses from other traditional folks here:

- A dye for cloth can be prepared from the root juice;
- Dry leaves can be burnt and the ash mixed with tobacco to make snuff;
- A decoction of the leaf is said to be useful for treating roundworm;
- The bitter pulp and juice from the leaves is used by women who rub it on their breasts to wean their babies.

A very similar species, Aloe ferox, the Bitter Aloe, has these additional uses:

- A jam or preserve can be made from the fleshy leaves
- The juice of the leaves is used to make 'Bitter Aloes' which is a laxative and is also often a component of folk 'tonics'
- The leaves can be dried and burned to repel insects
- They are planted pressed close together to form living, thorny fences around cattle kraals

The aloe used for skin care is Aloe vera, an Arabian species. Over here there are similar succulent plants belonging to the genus Bulbine which have the same beneficial healing properties for the skin, and I grow a couple of species. Bulbine are typically small, soft succulents, but aloe-like in appearance, with delicate yellow or orange flowers, that are open rather than tubular.

Great, thanks for answering.