In message , datsy
writes

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.

Many, many thanks for this advice, Martin. It *is* worrying if garden
centres are advising customers to treat their skin with something that is
not beneficial and can even cause harm. I bought mine from a garden centre
where they had a number of these plants and they were in fact giving the
benefits of aloe vera to a customer in front of me who was suffering from
bad eczema.

It might or might not be the right plant. It is impossible to say from
your description. It is very odd that a garden centre should be giving
out medical advice though...

The thing is an untidy quick grower and mainly noted in the UK as being
good for amateur cacti and succulent society plant sales because of
public demand for it. A sport with slightly tidier growth is always
possible. If you can flower it then the flowers of aloe vera are yellow
which cuts out a lot of the orange and red flowered look alikes.

There is good reason to be wary of using randomly chosen aloes. They
belong to the lily family and some people are sensitive to other
chemicals in their sap. Allergies tend to show up on the second
exposure.

Here are a few links to images of the real Aloe vera:

http://plantsdatabase.com/showimage/15930.html
http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/i...ml/starr_03052
3_0060_aloe_vera.htm

At our latitude they tend to be leggy and leaves more translucent.

I suspect that it will not be particularly good for pharmaceutical use
grown at our latitude and/or under glass. Most plants generate their
really interesting chemicals in response to the stress of strong UV in
sunlight at lower latitudes.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown