www.malaysianherbals.com- (101)Senna candolleana

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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.

Useful information about the plant

Two different senna plants were originally used medicinally from the genus Cassia within the subgenus of senna: Cassia senna L. (Syn. Cassia acutifoliaDelile - Alexandrian- or Khartum-Senna) and Cassia angustifolia Vahl. (Tinnevelly-Senna). The subsequent rise of the subgenus senna to its own genus of senna also had consequences for these two species. Their generic name is now consistently senna - the two species are morphologically and microscopically distinguished only marginally by the ingredients - and they have become pooled as Senna Alexandrina Mill. The distribution of Alexandrian Senna extends to the warm, dry areas of northern central Africa via Sudan, Egypt, and east to South India via Arabia.
The Alexandrian Senna is a 60cm to 2m tall shrub with five-to nine pairs of pinnate leaves. The leaflets are linear to lanceolateand up to 6 inches long. The original epithets from Latin "acutifolius" (= pointed leaves) "angustifolius" (= small leaved) refer to the shape of these leaflets. The pale yellow flowers are zygomorphic leaf axils in clusters. The fruits are up to 5cm long husks.

It received the names "Alexandrian Senna" and "Egyptian Senna" because Alexandria in Egypt was the main trade port in past times. The fruits and leaves were transported from Nubia and Sudan and other places to Alexandria, then from it and across the Mediterranean sea to Europe and adjacent Asia.

Though it might look like a scientific name, Cassia Officinalis is actually the apothecary term for this plant, and hence Officinalis—the Latin adjective denoting tools, utensils and medical compounds—is written with an initial upper-case letter, unlike specific epithets, which are always written with an initial lower-case letter today.

When cultured, the plants are cut down semi-annually, dried in the sun, stripped and packed in palm-leaf bags. They are then sent on camels to Essouan and Darao, then down the Nile to Cairo or else to Red Sea ports. For the nomadic Ababda, for example, trade in senna provides a significant source of income.

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