What Is the Difference Between the Aloe Vera And the Aloe Ferox Plant?

cape aloe – Since ancient times, aloes have been recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs and in the San and Khoi rock paintings and has a long history of medicinal uses in traditional cultures. Africa has over 360 species of the genus Aloe linneus of which the Aloe ferox is the most used and commercially produced in South Africa. Aloe ferox is different from aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis). In ‘ferox’, the bitter aloin is found just under the skin and can easily be separated from the gel-like inner leaf. In ‘vera’ the aloin is found throughout the leaf and is extracted in a chemical process. The Aloe ferox or cape aloe has been found to have a 28% higher level of aloin and 36% more amino acids than Aloe vera, which is indigenous to America.

The Aloe Ferox plant is a great deal older than the vera plant, the Aloe Ferox has also been used for a great deal longer than the aloe vera plant. The Aloe Ferox can only grow in one part of the world which is a small range in South Africa, in the stretch between the western and eastern cape.

The Aloe Ferox plant or cape aloe is about 20 times stronger than the aloe vera and it contains about twice to three times more the essential amino acids as its cousin the vera.
The tests demonstrated the following:

1. The freshly cut leaf of Aloe Ferox or cape aloe produced approximately 20 times more bitter sap,
   weight by weight, than the Aloe vera.
2. Aloe vera has a much softer and more translucent inner gel. It is also notably more
3. After extraction, the juice of the Aloe vera leaves decolourizes and loses its viscosity
   much more rapidly than does the juice of Aloe Ferox or cape aloe.
4. The solids content of the juice in Aloe Ferox or cape aloe were constantly greater in volume than
   those obtained from Aloe vera.
5. The amino acid content of Aloe Ferox or cape aloe is almost double that of Aloe vera

Aloe Ferox or cape aloe and Aloe vera contain 7 of the 8 essential amino acids and all the other 12 non-essential amino acids. Similarly the mineral concentrations of Aloe vera (Femenia 1999) were compared to typical concentration measured in Aloe Ferox (expressed as % of dry matter). It is evident that Aloe Ferox  or cape aloe contains a higher concentration of these minerals, which can potentially ascribed to its harvesting in its natural habitat and not in domesticated fields. As can be seen the chemical composition of Aloe vera is comparable to that of Aloe Ferox.