aloe

/ˈæloʊ/

/ˈæləʊ/

Other forms: aloes

Aloe is a succulent, flowering plant that's native to Africa. You can grow aloe as a houseplant on a windowsill, and it can soothe your skin when you are suffering from a sunburn.

The aloe plant is well-known because one variety, aloe vera, is commonly grown for the soothing qualities of its gel-like insides, which are used in lotions and cosmetics. You can use aloe to treat a sunburn, from a plant or a bottle purchased at a pharmacy or health food store. The Old English root is alewe, "fragrant resin of an East Indian tree."

Definitions of aloe

1. noun

   succulent plants having rosettes of leaves usually with fiber like hemp and spikes of showy flowers; found chiefly in Africa
   types:

   Aloe ferox, cape aloe

   much-branched South African plant with reddish prickly succulent leaves

   Aloe vera, burn plant

   very short-stemmed plant with thick leaves with soothing mucilaginous juice; leaves develop spiny margins with maturity; native to Mediterranean region; grown widely in tropics and as houseplants

   type of:

   succulent

   a plant adapted to arid conditions and characterized by fleshy water-storing tissues that act as water reservoirs