Pronunciation: XXX
Botanical name: Aloe secundiflora (Alois Plant List) 

Sukuroi specimen, collected near Wamba, Kenya

Description: Pictured specimen collected near Lengusaka, Kenya.

Uses: “Good for chickens as a general tonic. Cut up one leaf in the morning and leave in the water until evening. Repeat the next day. Squeeze juice from leaf directly into chicken’s eye to cure eye problems. It stings so they go running off squeaking. Rub sap on cuts to promote healing. Soak for two days, the water becomes very bitter, and drink a cup. You will start to vomit a lot. Cures malaria. If you boil it, boil for one hour and strain. Goats and sheep may eat the plant, cows and camels do not, but it makes their milk bitter. The shepherds let them eat it as at least it is food.” — Robin Leparsante, Longhiro Lekudere in conversation with William Rubel [?]

“Malaria was the most frequently mentioned ailment that aloes were used to treat. … One of the most frequent uses, mentioned by informants from the Samburu and Masai ethnic groups, was the use of Aloe secundiflora for making traditional beer. The roots are dug up, stripped, soaked in honey and dried before being processed further for improving fermentation.” — Bjorå CS, Wabuyele E, Grace OM, Nordal I, Newton LE. The uses of Kenyan aloes: an analysis of implications for names, distribution and conservation. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2015 Nov 25;11:82. doi: 10.1186/s13002-015-0060-0. PMID: 26607663; PMCID: PMC4658748. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4658748/ (accessed July 17, 2024).

Return to Botanicals for Lmala Preparation.

This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.

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Published by William Rubel

I am an author who writes about traditional food and foodways. My book, The Magic of Fire (2002) is about hearth cooking. I have written an introductory history of bread, Bread, a global history (2011) and am currently writing a history of bread for the University of California Press. Other areas of interest include wild mushrooms, and specifically the treatment of Amanita muscaria in the historic record. I also write about Early Modern British Gardens, and for a more general audience, I write for Mother Earth News on bread, gardening, and more. I have an ongoing research project into the smoke-cured fermented milk of the Kenyan Samburu tribe. I am a co-director of the Samburu Lowlands Research Station, Lengusaka. I am the founding editor (1972) of Stone Soup, the magazine of writing and art by young people.

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