Aloe ferox seed: a potential source of oil for cosmetic and pharmaceutical use.

Aloe ferox is an important medicinal plant in Southern Africa whose seeds could be useful as a source of oil. The fatty acid composition of A. ferox seed oil was determined using gas chromatography. The physicochemical properties of the oil were analysed using standard methods. The seeds yielded 19.4% of a light textured oil using the Blight and Dyer's method and 12.3% using the Soxhlet extraction method. The saponification value of the seed oil was 241.9 mg KOH/g and the peroxide value was 8.9 meq/kg. The acid value of the seed oil was 51.5 mg KOH/g (25.9% free fatty acids). The major fatty acids found in the seed oil were linoleic acid (71.8%), oleic acid (12.0%), palmitic acid (11.2%) and stearic acid (2.9%). The results obtained suggest that as A. ferox seed oil is high in linoleic acid, it could be potentially exploited in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.