In message , datsy
writes

Datsy, let's do a little sum:
Give or take a factor of ten, the amount of Oxygen released in 24
hours will be comparable with the mass of plant material produced in
24 hours.
Your aloe would grow less than 1 gm of dry plant matter in a day, so
it
might be expected to produce less than 1 gm of Oxygen per day. The
density of Oxygen is around 1 gm per litre. So your plant will
produce something less than 1 litre of Oxygen overnight. That is
about one lungful. (All give or take a factor of 10, as I said). You
would
get much more than 1,000 times as much Oxygen into your room by the
simple expedient of sleeping with an open window.

Many thanks! Maths never was my strong point! I had to smile at this one -
from a previous posting you made, it sounded as though it was only a minute
amount - a lungful is actually quite a lot ;-)) ! Now, yes, I did put the
aloe in the bedroom because of the oxygen properties - but even I know it's
not going to give me enough oxygen for the night ;-)) . My main purpose for
buying the plant was its use in skin care. Having used commercial aloe vera
gel for many years for things like sunburn, insect bites, eczema, etc., it
seemed a good idea to be able to use it fresh. Even if my plant turns out
not to be a true aloe vera, its gel still seems to have the same cooling
effect.

This is exactly the sort of problem that dodgy dealers selling spurious
plants labelled "aloe vera" to members of the public can result in. Not
all species of aloe are benign and some have seriously caustic sap. It
is extremely inadvisable to use any plant that you cannot positively
identify as the correct species for any kind of medical treatment. It is
pretty hairy using one that is the right species too since you have no
way of measuring the concentration of active ingredients - and the dose
makes the poison.

A friend of mine has just been through radiotherapy and she bought a
plant to help with skin care after the treatment. In the US some
radiotherapy units have aloe vera plants so that patients can use them
immediately after treatment. This is to get the record straight as to why I
have an aloe vera (or whatever it is - or more to the point, whatever they
are, since they're multiplying so rapidly)!

You really need to determine if your plant is aloe vera or not
*URGENTLY* and certainly before you risk using it in contact with your
skin again.

The real aloe vera used at the right concentrations is remarkably
effective as a burns treatment. But there is not much margin for error.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown