Aloe, or agave, is very popular, so this houseplant can be seen on the windowsills of almost every home. It is not in vain that he is called a home doctor, because aloe juice has medicinal properties of a wide spectrum of action. Useful properties of aloe and plant care at home will be considered in this material.
Description
Aloe is a decorative leaf indoor succulent. Often referred to as the lily family. However, according to the APG IV classification, the genus Aloe belongs to the Asphodelaceae family. And traditional systematics distinguishes the genus into its own family - aloes or aloes.
Most often at home you can find aloe tree. In the home environment, it grows up to 60 cm, less often up to 1 m. The plant has a stem on which fleshy, bluish-green, slightly curved leaves are located, along the edges of which there are sharp spikes.
Very rarely at home, aloe blooms with red-orange tubular flowers collected in apicalmulti-flowered racemes-inflorescences on a rather high peduncle.
Healing properties and composition of aloe juice
Aloe includes a huge amount of useful substances. The composition of the juice of this versatile plant contains the following components:
- vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B12, C, E;
- amino acids;
- minerals (more than 30), including: magnesium, copper, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, manganese, potassium, zinc;
- biologically active anthrachionins, glucocid, isobartholoin, anthranol and anthracene, aloic acid, cinnamic acid, aloe emodin, cinnamic acid ester, essential oil, lignins, chrysophanic acid, saponins, Ulcin, resistinol.
- substance allantoin, which has a strong moisturizing effect.
Even in ancient times (more than 3000 years ago), people knew the healing properties of aloe. It was used in the treatment of wounds, ulcers, burns and frostbite.
Healing properties:
- bactericidal - used against streptococcus, staphylococcus, diphtheria, dysentery, typhoid bacilli;
- ability to remove radiation products;
- wound healing and anti-inflammatory;
- immunomodulating and biostimulating;
- improvement of intestinal motility;
- improvement of digestion and bile excretion;
- vitaminization and saturation with microelements;
- reduces toxins;
- blood purification;
- pain relief effect;
- heals wounds, ulcers, abscesses and boils;
- normalizes blood cholesterol levels;
- reduces gum disease;
- contributes to the treatment of eye and gynecological diseases, as well as diseases of the nervous system, cardiovascular, digestive and urinary;
- widely used in cosmetology.
Contraindications
The main contraindication is individual intolerance to the components of aloe juice. Allergic reactions with external use can be in the form of an acute form of bullous dermatitis. It is more terrible, of course, if, when using aloe juice as injections or nasal drops, an allergy manifests itself as an anaphylactic shock.
No internal use:
- bleeding (such as menstruation), hemorrhoids, uterine and stomach bleeding, etc.;
- with severe diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
- hypertension;
- jades in severe form;
- acute disorders of the stomach and intestines;
- oncological diseases;
- pregnancy;
- severe exacerbations.
The aloe juice treatment process can also cause complications such as increased intestinal motility and diarrhea.
History
Aloe is native to South Africa and Madagascar. Archaeological excavations in the caves of Sterkfontein, Kromdray and Makapanshat reveal that the herb has been used to treat wounds since ancient times.
A bag of aloe leaves was carried by pastoralists from the Khoi-Koi (Hottentot) tribes. Bushmen fromForagers of the San have also always used the plant's healing and anti-inflammatory properties to treat wounds from predators or poisonous thorns.
In 1652, the Dutchman Jan van Riebeck founded a settlement on the Cape of Good Hope. Then they began to study the experience of the local population in the treatment of wounds and ailments. Among others, knowledge of the properties of aloe was adopted. The spread of the use of the juice of this plant occurred during the Kaffir wars, when doctors from Europe began to actively use the properties of aloe for the treatment of wounds.
However, the plant was brought to Europe from Africa as a gift to the wife of General James Craig, who was fond of studying plants. And in the 19th century, by the 70s, aloe became widespread. At the same time, official medicine recognized the plant as medicinal.
Varieties
The genus Aloe includes more than 500 species. And the flowering of this succulent is an ordinary phenomenon in nature, unlike domestic varieties, which rarely delight with flowers. The plant has adapted to survive in difficult conditions.
From being eaten by wild animals, it is protected by thorns and bitterness of the leaves, and the bluish coating on the fleshy leaves is protection from the exhaustingly hot sun. The smallest of the aloe species grows only a couple of tens of centimeters, and the largest reaches a height of fifteen meters.
Aloe Vera
Aloe vera flower home care requires very careful and moderate watering. This species is the ownera huge number of useful properties that are widely used both in cosmetology and medicine.
When caring for at home, aloe vera is unpretentious, like all members of the family. But it is absolutely impossible to place the plant next to a heating radiator in winter, and its location for wintering should be light and cool (from 13 to 16 ° C). This type of aloe comes from the islands of Barbados and Curacao, which are located in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
Aloe vera has upright, branching stems with densely spaced, cartilaginous-toothed leaves that can reach 40 cm in length. The plant is distinguished by the presence of a very juicy pulp, consisting of 97% water.
Aloe mix
Mix is not the name of a variety, but a mixture of various seeds. The positive point of acquiring a mix of aloe seeds is the variety of varieties. When buying, you need to pay attention to the expiration date, as the seed loses its germination capacity very quickly.
Before planting the seeds in the ground, they must be soaked for a day inside a damp clean rag, adding a growth stimulator. When caring for at home, the aloe mix must be transplanted as the seedlings develop.
Aloe spinous
This type of aloe is also a succulent belonging to the Xanthorrheaceae family. It has fleshy leaves arranged in a spiral, which are collected in rosettes up to 60 cm in diameter.
Rootsaloe of this species are branched, and the flowers on tall peduncles are tubular and orange-yellow in color. Its rough leaves are strewn with white pimply dots, they have spines along the edges and at the end, which is why it is spinous.
The homeland of this species is the east of South Africa and the kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa. Aloe spinous from home care requires only an annual transplant, adding sand to the soil and the mandatory use of a drainage layer. When transplanting, the pot should be low, but wide in diameter.
Aloe motley
This type of aloe is easily recognizable by the variegated color of the leaf. It has a very fast growing root system, so frequent transplants will be required. When caring for at home, variegated aloe must be fed to maintain its decorative effect, using top dressing for succulents, an infusion of ash or vegetable broth. Reproduction of variegated aloe occurs with the help of children and apical offspring. This species is rot resistant.
Features of cultivation and care
At home, planting and caring for aloe is easy. This plant is as unpretentious as it is useful for its medicinal properties. Enough rare watering and annual transplants. Such a pet is ideal for lazy or too busy people.
With minimal care at home, any grower will be able to properly grow aloe. The location of the plant should be in a sufficiently lit place without excessive moisture and away from drafts.
Aloe needs sun even when it's dormant. direct sunlighthe will tolerate it normally, but it is worth accustoming him to them gradually, especially if the plant has been in moderate lighting conditions for a long time.
Aloe cultivation and care at home should take place under conditions of moderate watering. Excessive dampness will kill a drought-resistant plant. Before the next watering, you need to make sure that the earth in the aloe pot is completely dry.
Transplanting and top dressing
Aloe home care requirements are minimal. However, decorative varieties need top dressing in order to maintain their beauty. For this, only liquid top dressings are used, which are diluted in water for irrigation and applied during the period of active growth 1 time in three weeks. Sick and newly transplanted aloe bushes should not be fed.
Aloe transplantation and home care after it should occur when the plant stops developing and stops growing. So the food is already not enough, and the roots have grown too much. Young plants need to be transplanted annually, and adults - once every three years.
For good development, a substrate is needed at the rate of: 1 part of sand and soddy soil, 2 parts of leafy soil with the addition of charcoal and finely crushed brick. But the easiest way is to buy ready-made cactus mix in the store.
Reproduction
There are two ways to propagate aloe: using seeds and vegetatively. However, seeds are almost never used, since this process is quite long and laborious. In addition, when propagated by seeds, varietal characteristics are not preserved.
Forseed propagation at the end of winter, under a mini-greenhouse, seeds are sown in the soil for cacti. At the same time, high humidity with an air temperature of +20 ° C is maintained inside the container with seeds. Shoots will have to wait a long time, and the growth of seedlings even longer. When the third leaf appears, the seedlings dive into separate containers.
For vegetative propagation, aloe tops, leaves or babies are used. The simplest thing is to separate the root shoots and plant them in separate pots. The top is cut off and dried for three days until the sap flow stops, then immediately planted in a pot with soil, or put in water with 1 tablet of activated charcoal to form roots.
During propagation, the leaves are cut off at the very base and also dried. The cut is treated with charcoal. Then the leaf plates are rooted immediately in the sandy substrate.
Growing errors
With improper care at home, aloe can get sick or die. The following growing mistakes are often made:
- Overflow and, as a result, rotting of the roots and the lower part of the stem. In this case, only the separation of a he althy crown and its rooting will save.
- The lack of moisture becomes noticeable only after 2 months, when the leaves are flabby and wrinkled. Will save watering.
- Lack of light is manifested by thinning leaves and thinning of the crown. It will save a change of residence to a more illuminated one. As additional artificial lighting, you can use lamps with a cold glow.
- Insufficientthe feeding area will appear in the thinning of the foliage. The aloe flower will be saved by home care, carried out by renewing the soil with an increase in the area of the pot.
Diseases and pests
Aloe is very rarely attacked by diseases or pests due to the bitterness of its leaves. Occasionally, aphids or scale insects may appear. You can lime insects with insecticides. But it is better to simply collect the scale insect from the leaves and destroy it, and remove the aphids with a soapy rag.
The aloe plant has a weak resistance to fungi. In particular, it is prone to putrefactive diseases of the stem and roots. In the early stages, the disease is almost undetectable, so the plant often dies.
If rot is noticed in time, then aloe can be saved by cutting and rooting the crown. For preventive purposes, moderate watering is needed after the soil has completely dried out and low air humidity.
Aloe flower, grown according to its needs, can not only please the owner with a beautiful appearance, but also cure him of many diseases. Therefore, this plant deserves a better place on the windowsill.
