www.malaysianherbals.com - Senna spectabilis -(78) (Spectacular Cassia) ஆவாரை இனம்

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Senna spectabilis (Spectacular Cassia)
Senna spectabilis has been introduced to Africa as an ornamental and a boundary marker. It timber is not highly valued but it produces good quality firewood.

Senna (from Arabic sanā), the sennas, is a large genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, and the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. This diverse genus is native throughout the tropics, with a small number of species intemperate regions. The number of species is estimated to be from about 260 to 350.The type species for the genus is Senna alexandrina. About 50 species of Senna are known in cultivation.

Senna includes herbs, shrubs, and trees.

The leaves are pinnate with opposite paired leaflets. The inflorescences areracemes at the ends of branches or emerging from the leaf axils. The flower has five sepals and five usually yellow petals. There are ten straight stamens. The stamens may be different sizes, and some are staminodes. The fruit is a legume pod containing several seeds.

According to Epilepsy Foundation, Epilepsy or seizure affects nearly 3 million Americans. This illness has an assessed annual cost of $17.6 billion, direct and indirect costs. Roughly, 200,000 new cases of seizures and epilepsy are recorded each year. 

There are treatments available nowadays. These medications help many people who live with epilepsy. But there are more than a million people who continue to have episodes of seizures that can rigorously limit their school accomplishments, occupation prospects and contribution in life's experiences.

According to National Sleep Institute,

“Insomnia, which is Latin for "no sleep," is the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Insomnia is also used to describe the condition of waking up not feeling restored or refreshed.” 

According to the National Center for Sleep Disorders Research at the National Institutes of Health, about 30-40 percent of grown persons claim that they experience symptoms of insomnia within a given year, and about 10-15 percent of adults claim that they have chronic insomnia. There are also treatments available in the market. Sleeping pills are one of the common medical treatments for insomnia.

In 2010, a research was conducted about the anticonvulsant and sedative activity of leaves of Sennaspectabilis. In its abstract, the authors stated:

“Senna spectabilis DC. is a small tree, 3 to 5 m, found in tropical areas in Africa, Asia, Australia, Latino and South America. It is used in traditional medicine in Cameroon to treat many diseases (constipation, insomnia, epilepsy, anxiety, etc.). Therefore, the aim of this study was to look scientifically for the anticonvulsant and sedative properties of S. spectabilis… The results lead to the conclusion that the extract of Senna spectabilis possesses anticonvulsant and sedative properties in mice. It also explains the use of Senna spectabilis in traditional medicine in Africa, for the treatment of insomnia and epilepsy.”

Another study also suggests that Senna spectabilis has anticonvulsant effect on animals. According to the study entitled “Central Nervous System Effects of Iso-6-spectaline Isolated from SennaSpectabilis var. Excelsa (Schrad) in Mice”

“The central nervous system (CNS) depressant and anticonvulsant activities of iso-6-spectaline(SPEC) were investigated in animal models… This SPEC was also capable of promoting an increase of latency for development of convulsions induced by picrotoxin at highest dose. In the same way, the anticonvulsant effect of SPEC was affected by pretreatment with flumazenil, a selective antagonist of the benzodiazepine site of the GABAA receptor. These results suggest possible CNS depressant and anticonvulsant activities in mice that need further investigation.”

These researches have shown that Senna spectabilis is effective in animals as anti-convulsant and CNS depressant. However, it is only effective with addition to the medicines. Additionally, these researches recommend further investigation of the effects of this herbal medicine to people, since it was studied on animals.

Synonyms

Cassia corymbosa Lam. (misapplied)
Cassia floribunda Cav. (misapplied)
Cassia laevigata Willd.
Cassia septemtrionalis Viv.
Senna x floribunda (Cav.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby (misapplied)

Common Names

arsenic bush, Brazilian buttercup, buttercup bush, Dooleyweed, laburnum, senna, smooth leaved senna, smooth senna, yellow shower

Description

Senna spectabilis is a small, rounded deciduous tree, 7-10 m (max. 15) tall, and 30 cm in trunk diameter, with a spreadingcrown. Bole is short, tends to fork near the ground and is wide spreading with drooping, leafy branches. Bark smooth, grey with horizontal markings, many warts and short fissures, rougher with age with broad vertical bands of large lenticels (corkypores). Twigs stout, brown with light dots (lenticels), finely hairy; young parts softly pubescent. Leaves alternate, up to 40 cm, once-compound (pinnate) with 4-15 (max. 19) pairs of leaflets, each up to 7.5 cm; petiole 3-4 cm; rachis 10-20 cm (max. 35); stipules paired, threadlike, linear falcate, early caducous, about 1 cm long, without glands; leaflets narrowlyelliptic, 3-7 x 1-2 cm (the lowermost petal usually much smaller and early caducous); base rounded, apex acute,mucronate; margin entire, upper surface glabrous, dull green and almost hairless, with many slightly sunken side veins; lower surface dull light green and soft hairy, sometimes hairless; petiolule short, about 3 mm long (Katende et al. 1995).

Inflorescence large, terminal, lateral, leafy panicles, 15-30 cm (max. 90) long, which are branched and very large. Flowers many, fragrant, composed of 5 rounded hairy bracts, which are ovate, 4-5 mm long, caducous; pedicles 2-3 mm,velutinous. Sepals orange-yellow, unequal, ovate to suborbicular; 2 outer pubescent, 3 inner glabrous, larger, 5-7 mm long. Petals yellow, spathulate, unequal, broadly to narrowly obovate (egg-shaped in outline but with the narrower end at the base), 2-3.5 cm long, anthers opening by apical pores and a slit; stamens 7 large and 3 small sterile (staminodes).Pistil slender, curved, hairless; ovary glabrous, recurved; style and stigma inconspicuous. Fruit cylindrical or flattenedpods ending in a short, narrow point, hard, not splitting open or slightly on 1 side; pendulous, more or less terete or slightlycompressed, glabrous, glossy, annulate-septate, 18-25 (max. 30) x 1 cm, turning from green to black; with many cross walls about 3 mm or less apart, the seeds in separate compartments. Seeds 2.5 cm each division, 50-70, suborbicular, flattened, brown, about 5 mm in diameter; septae papery.

Economic and other uses

Family

Caesalpiniaceae (Queensland, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)
Fabaceae: sub-family  Caesalpinioideae (New South Wales)
Leguminosae (South Australia)

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