Hello Vera!

 Hello Vera is what one of the children thought this plant was called when I first got one many years ago!

Now I have two Aloe Vera plants because I thought BiL had killed one when he was plant sitting it while I moved between holiday lets last spring. The second one was picked up, just in case, from a boot sale last summer and was and  is a sad looking thing,  don't think it likes where it's been stood.

This is the one which survived after all and is on my kitchen window sill. Being a succulent it's a house plant I can actually keep alive.

 Having it in the kitchen is the best place because the thing it is most useful for is treating minor burns. Just cut a piece of leaf and smear the burn with the juice that will appear and the burn is immediately soothed.

One of the library books I had on loan

 

 had lots more information about this ancient plant which apparently both Cleopatra and Nefertiti used in their beauty routines. Then Christopher Columbus had Aloe plants on board his ships to use as a wound healer and Sixteenth-century Native American tribes used it to clean their wooden cooking implements because it prevented insect infestation.

 

The herbalist Culpepper says 

"Aloes made into a powder, and strewed upon new bloody wounds, stops the blood and heals them; it likewise closes up old ulcers, particularly those about the private parts and fundement:boiled with wine and honey it heals rifts and haemorrhoids, removes obstructions of the viscera, kills worms in the stomach and intestines"

I'll stick to using it to heal small burns!

As today is the 17th have to wish a Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone who celebrates it .☘

Back Tomorrow

Sue