Aloe vera or correctly named Aloe barbadensis miller, is the best known of all the Aloe because of its uses in alternative medicine and skin care.
It is cultivated commercially all over the world and is also popular as a garden plant as it makes an attractive ornamental plant in pots and rockeries.
Aloe vera is a stemless or short stemmed Aloe with a basal rosette of thick, fleshy, grey-green leaves with white spines along margins. The leaves can have white specks on the upper and undersurfaces.
During Summer a tall flower spike is produced with a terminal raceme of pendulous, yellow tubular flowers.
The parent produces offsets or pups around the base so the plant tends to form clusters that can be divided or left to spread.