Bitter aloes
Aloe, Socotrine aloes
- Known today as
- The dried juice of Aloe vera, A. ferox, and A. perryi of Socotra.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- aloin, aloe-emodin
- Earliest authority here
- Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
- Qualities
- Hot and dry (Galenic tradition). What the degrees mean
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.
Caution. A harsh laxative; not for pregnancy.
Bitter aloes: what was it used for?
The great purge of the old pharmacy, the base of hiera picra; not the aloe of Scripture (see Aloe).
Bitter aloes: what does modern science say?
A strong anthraquinone laxative; the United States removed it from over-the-counter laxatives in 2002.
Bitter aloes: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. A harsh laxative; not for pregnancy. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- aloin ChEMBLbarbaloin
- aloe-emodin ChEMBL
- Mechanism
- The anthrones stimulate the colon as senna does, more harshly.
- Toxic dose
- Cramps; chronic use depletes potassium.
- Standing
- Aloin was removed from over-the-counter laxatives in the United States in 2002 for want of safety data.
- Guo, X., and Mei, N. (2016). “Aloe vera: a review of toxicity and adverse clinical effects.” Journal of Environmental Science and Health C 34. Verified against its record · doi:10.1080/10590501.2016.1166826
The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Bitter aloes: what lore surrounds it?
An ancient tradition, recorded by later Arabic and classical geographers, holds that Aristotle advised Alexander the Great to settle Greek colonists on Socotra to secure its aloe trade: if true, one of the earliest instances of a ruler colonizing an island for a single medicinal crop. The tradition is widely repeated, but its ultimate ancient authority has not been pinned down.
Used in These Compounds
Bitter aloes is an ingredient of 5 compound medicines in the database. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.
Bitter aloes: what did the older authorities say?
- Pliny
- Describes the aloe as like a squill but larger, with a root “like a stake driven into the ground,” a powerful smell and a bitter taste, the best imported from India; the Asiatic kind served only for its glutinous leaves laid fresh on wounds; wine-dealers, he complains, “use aloes for the purpose of heightening the flavour and improving the colour of their wines”; two drachmae of aloes are added to two oboli of scammony to temper its purging; and honey with aloes is given for bruises.
Sources
- Dioscorides, De materia medica. Read in part · the text read
- “History of Socotra” (reference article). Book, not indexed
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History 27.5, 14.8, 26.38, 21.44, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Primary text
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 read in part, 1 verified against its record, 1 primary text, 1 book, not indexed. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Bitter aloes.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bitter-aloes.
- MLA
“Bitter aloes.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bitter-aloes. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Bitter aloes. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bitter-aloes
Club members keep entries on a shelf with private notes, print the plates as cards, and receive an entry by email each week. Create a free account before January 1, 2027 and all of it is yours for good. About the Club
See Also
Sharing aloin
Cochia pills · Indian and Arabian pills · Foetid pills · Laricifomes officinalis
Also in Pliny the Elder
Black pepper in Pliny the Elder · Ben-nut in Pliny the Elder · Bladderwrack in Pliny the Elder · Barley water in Pliny the Elder · everything Pliny the Elder names →
Drawing on the same sources: Dioscorides
Calamine · Walnut, middle bark of · Cantharides · the bibliography →
Of the same qualities: hot and dry
Black hellebore · Betony · Balm · Cardamom · Asafoetida · what the degrees mean →
Nearby in the alphabet
Bistort (snakeweed) · Birch polypore (A white bracket of dead birch) · Black walnut · Bezoar stone (A concretion formed in the stomach of goats and other animals) · Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
Historical description, not medical advice.