Birth flower for December 9
Aloe
Meaning: healing, good health
People have used aloe as medicine for more than 2,000 years; the Greek physician Dioscorides recommended it for wounds in the first century. In Japan the common tree aloe earned the nickname no-need-for-a-doctor. Most of us only know the leaves, but in winter aloes shoot up tall spikes of tubular orange, red or yellow flowers that feed sunbirds in Africa.