Senna the sennas, is a large genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

, subfamily Caesalpinioideae

Caesalpinioideae

Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name Caesalpinia....

. This diverse

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

 genus is native

Indigenous (ecology)

In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...

 throughout the tropics

Tropics

The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately  N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at  S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...

, with a small number of species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 reaching into temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

 regions. The number of species is usually estimated to be about 260, but some authors believe that there are as many as 350. The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 for the genus is Senna alexandrina

Senna alexandrina

Senna alexandrina is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is also used in herbalism. It grows natively in upper Egypt, especially in the Nubian region, and near Khartoum , where it is cultivated commercially...

. About 50 species of Senna are known in cultivation.

Description

The following description is rather cursory and based mostly on Irwin and Barneby (1982), but partly on Marazzi (2006) .

The sennas are typically shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s or subshrub

Subshrub

A subshrub or dwarf shrub is a short woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a similar term.It is distinguished from a shrub by its ground-hugging stems and lower height, with overwintering perennial woody growth typically less than 10–20 cm tall, or by being only weakly woody and/or persisting...

s, some becoming scandent when growing into other vegetation. Some are herbs

Herbaceous plant

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 or small tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s. Many species have extrafloral nectaries.

The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are paripinnately  compound, the leaflet

Leaflet

A leaflet in botany is a part of a compound leaf. A leaflet may resemble an entire leaf, but it is not borne on a stem as a leaf is, but rather on a vein of the whole leaf. Compound leaves are common in many plant families...

s opposite

Phyllotaxis

In botany, phyllotaxis or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem .- Pattern structure :...

. The inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a raceme

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

, or some arrangement or racemes. The pedicel

Pedicel (botany)

A pedicel is a stem that attaches single flowers to the main stem of the inflorescence. It is the branches or stalks that hold each flower in an inflorescence that contains more than one flower....

s lack bracteoles.

The flowers produce no nectar. They are buzz pollinated and offer pollen

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...

 as a reward to pollinator

Pollinator

A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain...

s. They are often asymmetric

Asymmetric

Something which is asymmetric displays asymmetry. Specific uses of the term may include:*Asymmetric relation for information on such relations in mathematics and set theory*Asymmetric warfare for information and theories of modern war...

. The petal

Petal

Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...

s are 5 in number, similar to each other, yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...

, or rarely white

White

White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...

.

The stamen

Stamen

The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...

s may be as few as 4, but usually there are 10. When 10, they occur in 3 sets. The 3 adaxial stamens are staminodial

Staminode

In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen. This means that it does not produce pollen. Staminodes are frequently inconspicuous and stamen-like, usually occurring at the inner whorl of the flower, but are also sometimes long enough to protrude from the...

. The 4 medial stamens are smaller than the 3 abaxial stamens. The anthers are basifixed and open

Dehiscence

Dehiscence can refer to:*Dehiscence is the spontaneous opening at maturity of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents.*Wound dehiscence is a previously closed wound reopening....

 by two terminal pores or short slits.

The gynoecium

Gynoecium

Gynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for all carpels in a flower. A carpel is the ovule and seed producing reproductive organ in flowering plants. Carpels are derived from ovule-bearing leaves which evolved to form a closed structure containing the ovules...

 is often enantiostylous; that is, it is deflected laterally to the right or left. This makes the flower asymmetric

Asymmetric

Something which is asymmetric displays asymmetry. Specific uses of the term may include:*Asymmetric relation for information on such relations in mathematics and set theory*Asymmetric warfare for information and theories of modern war...

, but the perianth

Perianth

The term perianth has two similar but separate meanings in botany:* In flowering plants, the perianth are the outer, sterile whorls of a flower...

 and the androecium may be asymmetrical as well.

The fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 is a legume, indehiscent

Dehiscence

Dehiscence can refer to:*Dehiscence is the spontaneous opening at maturity of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents.*Wound dehiscence is a previously closed wound reopening....

 or tardily dehiscent.

Affinities

Chamaecrista

Chamaecrista

Chamaecrista is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Members of the genus are commonly known as sensitive pea. Several species are capable of rapid plant movement.-Selected species:...

, Cassia, and Senna form a monophyletic group

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 which some authors have called Cassia sensu lato. In 1982, Howard Samuel Irwin and Rupert Charles Barneby

Rupert Charles Barneby

Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...

 called it subtribe Cassiinae of their tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...

 Cassieae. Cassieae, sensu

Sensu

Sensu is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of".It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used, but it also appears in expressions that indicate the convention or context of the usage.-Sensu and...

 Irwin and Barneby, contains 21 genera and is now known to be polyphyletic. Most authors continue to use the Irwin and Barneby classification

Biological classification

Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method to group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is part of scientific taxonomy....

 because a subsequent revision of Fabaceae has yet to be published.

Circumscription

The genus Senna has had a rather complex taxonomic history

History of plant systematics

The history of plant systematics—the biological classification of plants—stretches from the work of ancient Greek to modern evolutionary biologists. As a field of science, plant systematics came into being only slowly, early plant lore usually being treated as part of the study of...

. What is now known as Senna was included by Linnaeus in his concept of Cassia in Species Plantarum

Species Plantarum

Species Plantarum was first published in 1753, as a two-volume work by Carl Linnaeus. Its prime importance is perhaps that it is the primary starting point of plant nomenclature as it exists today. This means that the first names to be considered validly published in botany are those that appear...

in 1753. Philip Miller

Philip Miller

Philip Miller FRS was a Scottish botanist.Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 until he was pressured to retire shortly before his death...

 segregated

Segregate (taxonomy)

In taxonomy, a segregate, or a segregate taxon is created when a taxon is split off, from another taxon. This other taxon will be better known, usually bigger, and will continue to exist, even after the segregate taxon has been split off...

 Senna from Cassia in 1754 in the fourth edition of The Gardeners Dictionary

The Gardeners Dictionary

The Gardeners Dictionary was a widely cited reference series, written by Philip Miller, which tended to focus on plants cultivated in England. Many editions of the series were published.-Editions:-References:**-External links:*...

. Until Irwin and Barneby published their paper in 1982, many authors, following Linnaeus, did not recognize Senna and Chamaecrista, but included them in a broadly circumscribed

Circumscription (taxonomy)

In taxonomy, circumscription is the definition of the limits of a taxonomic group of organisms. One goal of taxonomy is to achieve a stable circumscription for every taxonomic group. Achieving stability can be simple or difficult....

 Cassia sensu lato. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequence

DNA sequence

The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...

s have shown that Chamaecrista, Cassia, and Senna are all monophyletic, but the relationships between these three genera have not been resolved. They are therefore shown in phylogenetic tree

Phylogenetic tree

A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree is a branching diagram or "tree" showing the inferred evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical and/or genetic characteristics...

s as a tritomy

Polytomy

A polytomy , meaning many temporal based branches, is a section of a phylogeny in which the evolutionary relationships can not be fully resolved to dichotomies. In a phylogenetic tree, a polytomy is represented as a node which has more than two immediate descending branches...

.

The division of Senna into sections

Section (botany)

In botany, a section is a taxonomic rank below the genus, but above the species. The subgenus, if present, is higher than the section, and the rank of series, if present, is below the section. Sections are typically used to help organise very large genera, which may have hundreds of species...

 and other infrageneric groups is in need of major revision, but none has been published since Irwin and Barneby published their classification in 1982.

Ecology and uses

Senna species make good ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s and are used for landscape gardening. The wide variety of species and ecological adaptations makes at least a handful of sennas suitable for any climate warmer than cool-temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

.

Cassia gum

Cassia gum

Cassia gum is a food additive made from the endosperm of Senna obtusifolia . It is used as a thickener and gelling agent, and has E-number E427....

 - a commonly-used thickening agent

Thickening agent

Thickening agents, or thickeners, is the term applied to substances which increase the viscosity of a solution or liquid/solid mixture without substantially modifying its other properties; although most frequently applied to foods where the target property is taste, the term also is applicable to...

 -, despite its name is actually from Chinese Senna (S. obtusifolia) seeds. In some Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

n cuisines (particularly those of Thailand and Laos), the leaves and flowers of Siamese Senna (S. siamea

Senna siamea

Senna siamea , also known as Kassod Tree or Cassod Tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown....

, called khi-lek in Thai

Thai language

Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...

), either fresh or pickled in brine

Brine

Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...

, are used in cooking, particularly in gaeng khi-lek (khi-lek curry).

Another senna, Senna italica

Senna italica

The Italian senna,Senna italica, is a legume tree in the genus Senna. It is recognized by many other common names based on the regions it grows in. In India, it is known as “Neutral Henna”. Most botanists and scientists recognize this plant as “Senegal Senna”. Italian Senna is easily...

ssp. italica (= Cassia obovata), often called "neutral henna", is used as a hair treatment

Hair coloring

Hair coloring is the practice of changing the color of hair. Common reasons are to cover gray hair, to change to a color regarded as more fashionable or desirable, and to restore the original hair color after it has been discolored by hairdressing processes or sun bleaching...

 with effects similar to henna

Henna

Henna is a flowering plant used since antiquity to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather and wool. The name is also used for dye preparations derived from the plant, and for the art of temporary tattooing based on those dyes...

 but without the red color. The active component is an anthraquinone derivative called chrysophanic acid, which is also found in higher concentrations in rhubarb

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a group of plants that belong to the genus Rheum in the family Polygonaceae. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing from short, thick rhizomes. They have large leaves that are somewhat triangular-shaped with long fleshy petioles...

 root. It adds a slight yellow color.


Some species of Senna are notable for being host to caterpillar

Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...

s of certain Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species, for example:

• Ascalapha odorata
  Ascalapha odorata
  The noctuid moth Ascalapha odorata bears the common name Black Witch. It is considered a harbinger of death in Mexican and Caribbean folklore...
  
  (Black Witch Moth) – recorded on Candle Bush (S. alata)
• Astraptes fulgerator (Two-barred Flasher) – recorded on Candle Bush (S. alata), S. cobanensis, S. hayesiana, S. pallida, S. papillosa, S. undulata and probably others [note 1]
• Catopsilia pomona
  Catopsilia pomona
  The Common Emigrant or Lemon Emigrant is a medium sized pierid butterfly found in Asia and parts of Australia. The species gets its name from its habit of migration. Some early authors considered them as two distinct species Catopsilia crocale and Catopsilia pomona.-Description:The species has...
  
  (Common Emigrant, Lemon Emigrant) – recorded on Candle Bush (S. alata) and possibly others
• Catopsilia pyranthe
  Catopsilia pyranthe
  The Mottled Emigrant, Catopsilia pyranthe, is a medium sized butterfly of the Family Pieridae found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of Australia.-Male:The upperside is chalky-white, slightly tinted in some specimens with green...
  
  (Mottled Emigrant) – recorded from Candle Bush (S. alata), Avaram Senna (S. auriculata), S. garrettiana and probably others
• Phoebis sennae (Cloudless Sulphur)

They are pollinated by a variety of bees, especially large female bees in genera such as Xylocopa. Some species also have extrafloral nectaries on the leaves or flower stalks, which attract ants but do not benefit pollinators. The ants probably deter herbivores.

In medicine

Sennas have for millennia played a major role in herbalism

Herbalism

Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, herblore, and phytotherapy...

 and folk medicine

Folk medicine

-Description:Refers to healing practices and ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to a limited segment of the population in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience.All cultures and societies...

. Alexandrian Senna (S. alexandrina) was and still is a significant item of trans-national trade e.g. by the Ababdeh people and grown commercially, traditionally along the middle Nile

Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...

 but more generally in many regions around the northwestern Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

.

Sennas act as purgatives and are similar to aloe

Aloe

Aloe , also Aloë, is a genus containing about 500 species of flowering succulent plants. The most common and well known of these is Aloe vera, or "true aloe"....

 and rhubarb

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a group of plants that belong to the genus Rheum in the family Polygonaceae. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing from short, thick rhizomes. They have large leaves that are somewhat triangular-shaped with long fleshy petioles...

 in having as active ingredients anthraquinone

Anthraquinone

Anthraquinone, also called anthracenedione or dioxoanthracene is an aromatic organic compound with formula . Several isomers are possible, each of which can be viewed as a quinone derivative...

 derivatives and their glucoside

Glucoside

A glucoside is a glycoside that is derived from glucose. Glucosides are common in plants, but rare in animals. Glucose is produced when a glucoside is hydrolysed by purely chemical means, or decomposed by fermentation or enzymes....

s. The latter are called sennosides or senna glycosides

Senna glycosides

Senna glycosides or sennosides are a number of anthraquinone derivatives useful as a laxative. They are dimeric glycosides named after their abundant occurrence in plants of the genus Senna....

. Senna alexandrina is used in modern medicine as a laxative

Laxative

Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...

; acting on the lower bowel, it is especially useful in alleviating constipation

Constipation

Constipation refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. Constipation is a common cause of painful defecation...

. It increases the peristaltic

Peristalsis

Peristalsis is a radially symmetrical contraction and relaxation of muscles which propagates in a wave down the muscular tube, in an anterograde fashion. In humans, peristalsis is found in the contraction of smooth muscles to propel contents through the digestive tract. Earthworms use a similar...

 movements of the colon

Colon (anatomy)

The colon is the last part of the digestive system in most vertebrates; it extracts water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body, and is the site in which flora-aided fermentation of unabsorbed material occurs. Unlike the small intestine, the colon does not play a...

 by irritating the colonic mucosa. The plants are most often prepared as an infusion

Infusion

An infusion is the outcome of steeping plants with desired chemical compounds or flavors in water or oil.-History:The first recorded use of essential oils was in the 10th or 11th century by the Persian polymath Avicenna, possibly in The Canon of Medicine.-Preparation techniques:An infusion is very...

. Senna glycosides are listed as ATC code

ATC code A06

-A06AA Softeners, emollients:-A06AA Softeners, emollients:-A06AA Softeners, emollients::A06AA01 Liquid paraffin:A06AA02 Docusate sodium:A06AA51 Liquid paraffin, combinations-A06AB Contact laxatives::A06AB01 Oxyphenisatine:A06AB02 Bisacodyl:A06AB03 Dantron...

 A06AB06 on their own and A06AB56 in combined preparations.

As regards other chemicals, the antiinflammatory compound resveratrol

Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol, and a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi....

 was first isolated from S. quinquangulata, and Siamese Senna S. siamea

Senna siamea

Senna siamea , also known as Kassod Tree or Cassod Tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown....

contains barakol

Barakol

Barakol is a compound found in the plant Senna siamea, which is used in traditional herbal medicine. It has sedative and anxiolytic effects, but use for these purposes is now discouraged due to hepatotoxicity....

 used to counteract aconitine

Aconitine

Aconitine is a highly poisonous alkaloid derived from various aconite species.-Uses:...

 poisoning. Chinese Senna (S. obtusifolia) seeds are also used in Kampō

Kampo

, alternatively shortened as just , is the Japanese study and adaptation of Traditional Chinese medicine. The basic works of Chinese medicine came to Japan between the 7th and 9th centuries. Since then, the Japanese have created their own unique herbal medical system and diagnosis...

 (traditional Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese medicine) where they are called ketsumei-shi (ケツメイシ, 決明子) or by their Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 name jué míng zǐ (traditional

Traditional Chinese character

Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...

: 決明子, simplified

Simplified Chinese character

Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language...

: 决明子).

The long-standing use of (mainly) Alexandrian Senna is reflected by its presence in many herbal remedies and tonics. These include for example Black draught

Black draught

A black draught was a saline aperient mixture used, along with a blue pill, as a purgative in the 19th century and well into the early part of the 20th century, with veterinarians prescribing these to constipated cattle and horses....

, Catholicon

Catholicon (electuary)

In pre-modern medicine, catholicon was a soft electuary, so called as being supposedly universal in its curative and prophylactic abilities ; or a purger of all humours.Different authors have given different recipes for catholicon...

, Daffy's Elixir

Daffy's Elixir

Daffy's Elixir is a name that has been used by several patent medicines over the years. It was originally designed for diseases of the stomach, but was later marketed as a universal cure...

, Diasenna

Diasenna

In pre-modern medicine, diasenna is a soft, purgative electuary containing the plant senna...

 (literally meaning "composed of senna") and Swedish bitters

Swedish bitters

thumb|Bottle LabelSwedish bitters is a traditional herbal tonic, said to have been formulated originally by Paracelsus and rediscovered by 18th century Swedish medics Dr. Claus Samst and Dr. Urban Hjärne. In modern times it has been popularised by Maria Treben, an Austrian herbalist. It is claimed...

. On the other hand, it was contained in more dangerous "medications" such as the highly toxic antihelminthic Lumbricide and - because their purgative effects are a readily-observed "proof" that some concoction "works" - many generally useless and often poisonous "patent medicine

Patent medicine

Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...

".

Senna is also the primary ingredient found in most "diet

Dieting

Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes, however, follow a diet to gain weight...

er's teas". The combination of acting as a stimulant which reduces a dieter's appetite, and the laxative

Laxative

Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...

 properties that cause food to move through their system before as many calories can be absorbed is a combination that can lead to rapid and even dangerous weight loss. Additionally it's important to be on the lookout for side effects that can start appearing after 7 days of prolonged use.

The stimulant action of sennosides should be taken into account for those who suffer from any conditions where stimulants are contraindicated, such as past heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

, high blood pressure, anxiety attacks, etc. A (generally invisible and harmless) side effect of taking Senna medication regularly is Melanosis coli

Melanosis coli

Melanosis coli, also pseudomelanosis coli, is a disorder of pigmentation of the wall of the colon, often identified at the time of colonoscopy. It is benign, and may have no significant correlation with disease...

, a brown discoloration of the colon wall.

Selected species

• Senna acclinis (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna aculeata (Benth.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna alata
  Senna alata
  Senna alata, the Candle Bush, is an important medicinal tree as well as an ornamental flowering plants in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It also known as a Candelabra Bush, Empress Candle Plant, Ringworm Tree or "candletree"...
  
  (L.) Roxb. – Candle Bush, Candelabra Bush, Empress Candle Plant, Candlestick Tree, Ringworm Tree, "candletree"
• Senna alexandrina
  Senna alexandrina
  Senna alexandrina is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is also used in herbalism. It grows natively in upper Egypt, especially in the Nubian region, and near Khartoum , where it is cultivated commercially...
  
  Mill. – Alexandrian Senna, Egyptian Senna, Tinnevelly Senna, East Indian Senna, sene de la palthe (French)
• Senna angulata (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna appendiculata (Vogel) Wiersema (= S. australis)
• Senna armata
  Senna armata
  Senna armata is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names spiny senna and desert senna. It is native to the desert regions around the intersection of Nevada, Arizona, eastern California and northern Baja California, where it grows in sandy and rocky habitat, such...
  
  (S.Watson) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna artemisioides
  Senna artemisioides
  Senna artemisioides is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is commonly known as Silver Cassia or Feathery Cassia - although "cassia" generally refers to the largest-growing Cassiinae. Some of its distinct subspecies also have common names of their own...
  
  (Gaudich. ex DC.) Randell – Silver Senna, Feathery Senna
• Senna auriculata
  Senna auriculata
  Senna auriculata is a legume tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is commonly known by its local names ranawara or avaram, Senna auriculata is a legume tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is commonly known by its local names ranawara or avaram, Senna auriculata is a legume tree in the...
  
  (L.) Roxb. – Avaram Senna, avaram, ranawara
• Senna aversiflora (Herbert) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna bicapsularis
  Senna bicapsularis
  Senna bicapsularis is a species of the legume genus Senna, native to northern South America, from Panama south to Venezuela and Colombia, and also the West Indies. It is naturalised and invasive in several coastal areas in the tropics, including the Galápagos Islands and New Caledonia...
  
  – Rambling Senna, Christmas Bush, Money Bush, Yellow Candlewood
• Senna birostris (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna candolleana (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna cardiosperma (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna caudata
  Senna caudata
  Senna caudata is a flowering plant species in the legume family . It is a threatened species, found only in Costa Rica and Panama....
  
  (Standl.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (Costa Rica
  Costa Rica
  Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
  
  , Panama
  Panama
  Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
  
  )
• Senna cobanensis (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna corymbosa
  Senna corymbosa
  Senna corymbosa is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is also known as Argentine Senna, Argentina Senna, Buttercup Bush, Flowering Senna, Flowery Senna or Tree Senna....
  
  – Argentine Senna, Argentina Senna, Buttercup Bush, Flowering Senna, (Texas) Flowery Senna, Tree Senna
• Senna covesii
  Senna covesii
  Senna covesii is a perennial subshrub in the family Fabaceae, native to the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert in southeastern California, southern Nevada, and Arizona in the United States, and northern Baja California in Mexico...
  
  (A.Gray) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Desert Senna, Coues' Senna, Rattleweed
• Senna cumingii (Hook. & Arn.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna cuthbertsonii (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna didymobotrya
  Senna didymobotrya
  Senna didymobotrya is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names African senna, popcorn senna, candelabra tree, and peanut butter cassia. It is native to Africa, where it can be found across the continent in several types of habitat...
  
  (Fresen.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna domingensis
  Senna domingensis
  Senna domingensis is a flowering plant species in the legume family . It is a threatened species, found in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti....
  
  (Spreng.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (Cuba
  Cuba
  The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
  
  , Hispaniola
  Hispaniola
  Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
  
  )
• Senna excelsa (Schrad) Irwin & Barneby
• Senna fruticosa (Mill.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna garrettiana (Craib) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna gaudichaudii
  Senna gaudichaudii
  Senna gaudichaudii, known as Heuhiuhi in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to Queensland, Australia and the Pacific Islands. It is a shrub, reaching a height of . In Hawaii, heuhiuhi inhabits low shrublands, dry forests, coastal mesic forests...
  
  (Hook. & Arn.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Heuhiuhi (Pacific Islands
  Pacific Islands
  The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
  
  , Queensland
  Queensland
  Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
  
  )
• Senna hayesiana (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna hebecarpa
  Senna hebecarpa
  Senna hebecarpa is an ornamental plant native to North America, specially Canada and the United States....
  
  – American Senna, Wild Senna
• Senna helmsii
• Senna heptanthera (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna hirsuta (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  • Senna hirsuta var. puberula
• Senna italica
  Senna italica
  The Italian senna,Senna italica, is a legume tree in the genus Senna. It is recognized by many other common names based on the regions it grows in. In India, it is known as “Neutral Henna”. Most botanists and scientists recognize this plant as “Senegal Senna”. Italian Senna is easily...
  
  Mill.
  • Senna italica ssp. italica – Neutral Henna
• Senna ligustrina (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna lindheimeriana (Scheele) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Velvet-leaved Senna
• Senna macranthera
  Senna macranthera
  Senna macranthera is a tree in the family of Fabaceae.With a height of 6 to 9 m, it has an abundance of yellow flowers from December to April in its homelands.- External links :* H.S. Irwin et Barneby, at Tela Botanica...
  
  (Collad.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
  
  • Senna macranthera var. macranthera
• Senna magnifolia (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna marilandica
  Senna marilandica
  Senna marilandica, or Maryland Wild Senna, is a flowering plant in the United States....
  
  (L.) Link
• Senna martiana (Benth.
  George Bentham
  George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...
  
  ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
  
• Senna martiana (Schrad) Irwin & Barneby
• Senna multiglandulosa
  Senna multiglandulosa
  Senna multiglandulosa is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by several common names, including glandular senna, downy senna, and buttercup bush. It is native to Mexico, Guatemala, and western parts of South America, but it is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and in some...
  
  (Jacq.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna multijuga (Rich.
  Louis Claude Richard
  Louis Claude Marie Richard was a French botanist.Richard was born at Versailles. Between 1781 and 1789 he collected botanical specimens in Central America and the West Indies...
  
  ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
   
  • Senna multijuga var. lindleyana (Gardner
    George Gardner (botanist)
    George Gardner was a Scottish naturalist mainly interested in botany.Gardner's father was a gardener first to to the Earl of Dunmore in Ardentinny, then from 1816 to the Earl of Eglinton at Ardrossan. In 1822, his parents moved to Glasgow where he attended the grammar-school and acquired a...
    
    ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
    
    
• Senna nicaraguensis (Benth.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna nitida (Rich.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby
• Senna notabilis (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna obtusifolia
  Senna obtusifolia
  Senna obtusifolia is a legume in the genus Senna, sometimes separated in the monotypic genus Diallobus. It grows wild in North, Central, and South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and is considered a particularly serious weed in many places...
  
  (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Chinese Senna, Sicklepod, Foetid Senna, Sickle Senna, Coffeeweed, Arsenic Weed, "blunt-leaved senna", "coffee pod", "java bean"
• Senna occidentalis
  Senna occidentalis
  Senna occidentalis is a pantropical plant species.Vernacular names include : ʻauʻaukoʻi in Hawaii, coffee senna, coffeeweed, Mogdad coffee, negro-coffee, senna coffee, Stephanie coffee, stinkingweed or styptic weed....
  
  (L.) Link
  Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link
  Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link was a German naturalist and botanist.Link was born at Hildesheim as a son of the minister August Heinrich Link , who taught him the love for nature through collection of 'natural objects'...
  
  – Coffee Senna, Mogdad Coffee (Pantropical)
• Senna odorata (R. Morris) Randall
• Senna oligoclada (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna oligophylla
• Senna pallida (Vahl) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna papillosa (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna pendula (Willd.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  • Senna pendula var. glabrata
  • Senna pendula var. stahlii (Urb.) Irwin & Barneby
• Senna pleurocarpa (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna polyphylla (Jacq.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby
• Senna purpusii (Brandegee) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna reticulata
  Senna reticulata
  Senna reticulata, the mangerioba grande or maria mole in Portuguese, is a plant species found in South America.It is used in the local folk medicine for liver problems and rheumatism. 1,3,8-Trihydroxyanthraquinone is an organic compound found in alcoholic extracts of the wood of the plant...
  
  Willd
• Senna rugosa (G.Don.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
  
• Senna scandens
  Senna scandens
  Senna scandens is a flowering plant species in the legume family .It is an endangered species found only in Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests....
  
  
• Senna septemtrionalis
  Senna septemtrionalis
  Senna septemtrionalis is a plant species in the genus Senna....
  
  (Viv.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna siamea
  Senna siamea
  Senna siamea , also known as Kassod Tree or Cassod Tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown....
  
  (Lam.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Siamese Senna, khi-lek (Thai)

Senna (from Arabic sanā), the sennas, is a large genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

, subfamily Caesalpinioideae

Caesalpinioideae

Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name Caesalpinia....

. This diverse

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

 genus is native

Indigenous (ecology)

In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...

 throughout the tropics

Tropics

The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately  N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at  S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...

, with a small number of species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 reaching into temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

 regions. The number of species is usually estimated to be about 260, but some authors believe that there are as many as 350. The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 for the genus is Senna alexandrina

Senna alexandrina

Senna alexandrina is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is also used in herbalism. It grows natively in upper Egypt, especially in the Nubian region, and near Khartoum , where it is cultivated commercially...

. About 50 species of Senna are known in cultivation.

Description

The following description is rather cursory and based mostly on Irwin and Barneby (1982), but partly on Marazzi (2006) .

The sennas are typically shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s or subshrub

Subshrub

A subshrub or dwarf shrub is a short woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a similar term.It is distinguished from a shrub by its ground-hugging stems and lower height, with overwintering perennial woody growth typically less than 10–20 cm tall, or by being only weakly woody and/or persisting...

s, some becoming scandent when growing into other vegetation. Some are herbs

Herbaceous plant

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 or small tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s. Many species have extrafloral nectaries.

The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are paripinnately  compound, the leaflet

Leaflet

A leaflet in botany is a part of a compound leaf. A leaflet may resemble an entire leaf, but it is not borne on a stem as a leaf is, but rather on a vein of the whole leaf. Compound leaves are common in many plant families...

s opposite

Phyllotaxis

In botany, phyllotaxis or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem .- Pattern structure :...

. The inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a raceme

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

, or some arrangement or racemes. The pedicel

Pedicel (botany)

A pedicel is a stem that attaches single flowers to the main stem of the inflorescence. It is the branches or stalks that hold each flower in an inflorescence that contains more than one flower....

s lack bracteoles.

The flowers produce no nectar. They are buzz pollinated and offer pollen

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...

 as a reward to pollinator

Pollinator

A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain...

s. They are often asymmetric

Asymmetric

Something which is asymmetric displays asymmetry. Specific uses of the term may include:*Asymmetric relation for information on such relations in mathematics and set theory*Asymmetric warfare for information and theories of modern war...

. The petal

Petal

Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...

s are 5 in number, similar to each other, yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...

, or rarely white

White

White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...

.

The stamen

Stamen

The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...

s may be as few as 4, but usually there are 10. When 10, they occur in 3 sets. The 3 adaxial stamens are staminodial

Staminode

In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen. This means that it does not produce pollen. Staminodes are frequently inconspicuous and stamen-like, usually occurring at the inner whorl of the flower, but are also sometimes long enough to protrude from the...

. The 4 medial stamens are smaller than the 3 abaxial stamens. The anthers are basifixed and open

Dehiscence

Dehiscence can refer to:*Dehiscence is the spontaneous opening at maturity of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents.*Wound dehiscence is a previously closed wound reopening....

 by two terminal pores or short slits.

The gynoecium

Gynoecium

Gynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for all carpels in a flower. A carpel is the ovule and seed producing reproductive organ in flowering plants. Carpels are derived from ovule-bearing leaves which evolved to form a closed structure containing the ovules...

 is often enantiostylous; that is, it is deflected laterally to the right or left. This makes the flower asymmetric

Asymmetric

Something which is asymmetric displays asymmetry. Specific uses of the term may include:*Asymmetric relation for information on such relations in mathematics and set theory*Asymmetric warfare for information and theories of modern war...

, but the perianth

Perianth

The term perianth has two similar but separate meanings in botany:* In flowering plants, the perianth are the outer, sterile whorls of a flower...

 and the androecium may be asymmetrical as well.

The fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 is a legume, indehiscent

Dehiscence

Dehiscence can refer to:*Dehiscence is the spontaneous opening at maturity of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents.*Wound dehiscence is a previously closed wound reopening....

 or tardily dehiscent.

Affinities

Chamaecrista

Chamaecrista

Chamaecrista is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Members of the genus are commonly known as sensitive pea. Several species are capable of rapid plant movement.-Selected species:...

, Cassia, and Senna form a monophyletic group

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 which some authors have called Cassia sensu lato. In 1982, Howard Samuel Irwin and Rupert Charles Barneby

Rupert Charles Barneby

Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...

 called it subtribe Cassiinae of their tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...

 Cassieae. Cassieae, sensu

Sensu

Sensu is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of".It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used, but it also appears in expressions that indicate the convention or context of the usage.-Sensu and...

 Irwin and Barneby, contains 21 genera and is now known to be polyphyletic. Most authors continue to use the Irwin and Barneby classification

Biological classification

Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method to group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is part of scientific taxonomy....

 because a subsequent revision of Fabaceae has yet to be published.

Circumscription

The genus Senna has had a rather complex taxonomic history

History of plant systematics

The history of plant systematics—the biological classification of plants—stretches from the work of ancient Greek to modern evolutionary biologists. As a field of science, plant systematics came into being only slowly, early plant lore usually being treated as part of the study of...

. What is now known as Senna was included by Linnaeus in his concept of Cassia in Species Plantarum

Species Plantarum

Species Plantarum was first published in 1753, as a two-volume work by Carl Linnaeus. Its prime importance is perhaps that it is the primary starting point of plant nomenclature as it exists today. This means that the first names to be considered validly published in botany are those that appear...

in 1753. Philip Miller

Philip Miller

Philip Miller FRS was a Scottish botanist.Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 until he was pressured to retire shortly before his death...

 segregated

Segregate (taxonomy)

In taxonomy, a segregate, or a segregate taxon is created when a taxon is split off, from another taxon. This other taxon will be better known, usually bigger, and will continue to exist, even after the segregate taxon has been split off...

 Senna from Cassia in 1754 in the fourth edition of The Gardeners Dictionary

The Gardeners Dictionary

The Gardeners Dictionary was a widely cited reference series, written by Philip Miller, which tended to focus on plants cultivated in England. Many editions of the series were published.-Editions:-References:**-External links:*...

. Until Irwin and Barneby published their paper in 1982, many authors, following Linnaeus, did not recognize Senna and Chamaecrista, but included them in a broadly circumscribed

Circumscription (taxonomy)

In taxonomy, circumscription is the definition of the limits of a taxonomic group of organisms. One goal of taxonomy is to achieve a stable circumscription for every taxonomic group. Achieving stability can be simple or difficult....

 Cassia sensu lato. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequence

DNA sequence

The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...

s have shown that Chamaecrista, Cassia, and Senna are all monophyletic, but the relationships between these three genera have not been resolved. They are therefore shown in phylogenetic tree

Phylogenetic tree

A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree is a branching diagram or "tree" showing the inferred evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical and/or genetic characteristics...

s as a tritomy

Polytomy

A polytomy , meaning many temporal based branches, is a section of a phylogeny in which the evolutionary relationships can not be fully resolved to dichotomies. In a phylogenetic tree, a polytomy is represented as a node which has more than two immediate descending branches...

.

The division of Senna into sections

Section (botany)

In botany, a section is a taxonomic rank below the genus, but above the species. The subgenus, if present, is higher than the section, and the rank of series, if present, is below the section. Sections are typically used to help organise very large genera, which may have hundreds of species...

 and other infrageneric groups is in need of major revision, but none has been published since Irwin and Barneby published their classification in 1982.

Ecology and uses

Senna species make good ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s and are used for landscape gardening. The wide variety of species and ecological adaptations makes at least a handful of sennas suitable for any climate warmer than cool-temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

.

Cassia gum

Cassia gum

Cassia gum is a food additive made from the endosperm of Senna obtusifolia . It is used as a thickener and gelling agent, and has E-number E427....

 - a commonly-used thickening agent

Thickening agent

Thickening agents, or thickeners, is the term applied to substances which increase the viscosity of a solution or liquid/solid mixture without substantially modifying its other properties; although most frequently applied to foods where the target property is taste, the term also is applicable to...

 -, despite its name is actually from Chinese Senna (S. obtusifolia) seeds. In some Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

n cuisines (particularly those of Thailand and Laos), the leaves and flowers of Siamese Senna (S. siamea

Senna siamea

Senna siamea , also known as Kassod Tree or Cassod Tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown....

, called khi-lek in Thai

Thai language

Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...

), either fresh or pickled in brine

Brine

Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...

, are used in cooking, particularly in gaeng khi-lek (khi-lek curry).

Another senna, Senna italica

Senna italica

The Italian senna,Senna italica, is a legume tree in the genus Senna. It is recognized by many other common names based on the regions it grows in. In India, it is known as “Neutral Henna”. Most botanists and scientists recognize this plant as “Senegal Senna”. Italian Senna is easily...

ssp. italica (= Cassia obovata), often called "neutral henna", is used as a hair treatment

Hair coloring

Hair coloring is the practice of changing the color of hair. Common reasons are to cover gray hair, to change to a color regarded as more fashionable or desirable, and to restore the original hair color after it has been discolored by hairdressing processes or sun bleaching...

 with effects similar to henna

Henna

Henna is a flowering plant used since antiquity to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather and wool. The name is also used for dye preparations derived from the plant, and for the art of temporary tattooing based on those dyes...

 but without the red color. The active component is an anthraquinone derivative called chrysophanic acid, which is also found in higher concentrations in rhubarb

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a group of plants that belong to the genus Rheum in the family Polygonaceae. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing from short, thick rhizomes. They have large leaves that are somewhat triangular-shaped with long fleshy petioles...

 root. It adds a slight yellow color.


Some species of Senna are notable for being host to caterpillar

Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...

s of certain Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species, for example:

• Ascalapha odorata
  Ascalapha odorata
  The noctuid moth Ascalapha odorata bears the common name Black Witch. It is considered a harbinger of death in Mexican and Caribbean folklore...
  
  (Black Witch Moth) – recorded on Candle Bush (S. alata)
• Astraptes fulgerator (Two-barred Flasher) – recorded on Candle Bush (S. alata), S. cobanensis, S. hayesiana, S. pallida, S. papillosa, S. undulata and probably others [note 1]
• Catopsilia pomona
  Catopsilia pomona
  The Common Emigrant or Lemon Emigrant is a medium sized pierid butterfly found in Asia and parts of Australia. The species gets its name from its habit of migration. Some early authors considered them as two distinct species Catopsilia crocale and Catopsilia pomona.-Description:The species has...
  
  (Common Emigrant, Lemon Emigrant) – recorded on Candle Bush (S. alata) and possibly others
• Catopsilia pyranthe
  Catopsilia pyranthe
  The Mottled Emigrant, Catopsilia pyranthe, is a medium sized butterfly of the Family Pieridae found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of Australia.-Male:The upperside is chalky-white, slightly tinted in some specimens with green...
  
  (Mottled Emigrant) – recorded from Candle Bush (S. alata), Avaram Senna (S. auriculata), S. garrettiana and probably others
• Phoebis sennae (Cloudless Sulphur)

They are pollinated by a variety of bees, especially large female bees in genera such as Xylocopa. Some species also have extrafloral nectaries on the leaves or flower stalks, which attract ants but do not benefit pollinators. The ants probably deter herbivores.

In medicine

Sennas have for millennia played a major role in herbalism

Herbalism

Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, herblore, and phytotherapy...

 and folk medicine

Folk medicine

-Description:Refers to healing practices and ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to a limited segment of the population in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience.All cultures and societies...

. Alexandrian Senna (S. alexandrina) was and still is a significant item of trans-national trade e.g. by the Ababdeh people and grown commercially, traditionally along the middle Nile

Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...

 but more generally in many regions around the northwestern Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

.

Sennas act as purgatives and are similar to aloe

Aloe

Aloe , also Aloë, is a genus containing about 500 species of flowering succulent plants. The most common and well known of these is Aloe vera, or "true aloe"....

 and rhubarb

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a group of plants that belong to the genus Rheum in the family Polygonaceae. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing from short, thick rhizomes. They have large leaves that are somewhat triangular-shaped with long fleshy petioles...

 in having as active ingredients anthraquinone

Anthraquinone

Anthraquinone, also called anthracenedione or dioxoanthracene is an aromatic organic compound with formula . Several isomers are possible, each of which can be viewed as a quinone derivative...

 derivatives and their glucoside

Glucoside

A glucoside is a glycoside that is derived from glucose. Glucosides are common in plants, but rare in animals. Glucose is produced when a glucoside is hydrolysed by purely chemical means, or decomposed by fermentation or enzymes....

s. The latter are called sennosides or senna glycosides

Senna glycosides

Senna glycosides or sennosides are a number of anthraquinone derivatives useful as a laxative. They are dimeric glycosides named after their abundant occurrence in plants of the genus Senna....

. Senna alexandrina is used in modern medicine as a laxative

Laxative

Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...

; acting on the lower bowel, it is especially useful in alleviating constipation

Constipation

Constipation refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. Constipation is a common cause of painful defecation...

. It increases the peristaltic

Peristalsis

Peristalsis is a radially symmetrical contraction and relaxation of muscles which propagates in a wave down the muscular tube, in an anterograde fashion. In humans, peristalsis is found in the contraction of smooth muscles to propel contents through the digestive tract. Earthworms use a similar...

 movements of the colon

Colon (anatomy)

The colon is the last part of the digestive system in most vertebrates; it extracts water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body, and is the site in which flora-aided fermentation of unabsorbed material occurs. Unlike the small intestine, the colon does not play a...

 by irritating the colonic mucosa. The plants are most often prepared as an infusion

Infusion

An infusion is the outcome of steeping plants with desired chemical compounds or flavors in water or oil.-History:The first recorded use of essential oils was in the 10th or 11th century by the Persian polymath Avicenna, possibly in The Canon of Medicine.-Preparation techniques:An infusion is very...

. Senna glycosides are listed as ATC code

ATC code A06

-A06AA Softeners, emollients:-A06AA Softeners, emollients:-A06AA Softeners, emollients::A06AA01 Liquid paraffin:A06AA02 Docusate sodium:A06AA51 Liquid paraffin, combinations-A06AB Contact laxatives::A06AB01 Oxyphenisatine:A06AB02 Bisacodyl:A06AB03 Dantron...

 A06AB06 on their own and A06AB56 in combined preparations.

As regards other chemicals, the antiinflammatory compound resveratrol

Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol, and a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi....

 was first isolated from S. quinquangulata, and Siamese Senna S. siamea

Senna siamea

Senna siamea , also known as Kassod Tree or Cassod Tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown....

contains barakol

Barakol

Barakol is a compound found in the plant Senna siamea, which is used in traditional herbal medicine. It has sedative and anxiolytic effects, but use for these purposes is now discouraged due to hepatotoxicity....

 used to counteract aconitine

Aconitine

Aconitine is a highly poisonous alkaloid derived from various aconite species.-Uses:...

 poisoning. Chinese Senna (S. obtusifolia) seeds are also used in Kampō

Kampo

, alternatively shortened as just , is the Japanese study and adaptation of Traditional Chinese medicine. The basic works of Chinese medicine came to Japan between the 7th and 9th centuries. Since then, the Japanese have created their own unique herbal medical system and diagnosis...

 (traditional Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese medicine) where they are called ketsumei-shi (ケツメイシ, 決明子) or by their Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 name jué míng zǐ (traditional

Traditional Chinese character

Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...

: 決明子, simplified

Simplified Chinese character

Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language...

: 决明子).

The long-standing use of (mainly) Alexandrian Senna is reflected by its presence in many herbal remedies and tonics. These include for example Black draught

Black draught

A black draught was a saline aperient mixture used, along with a blue pill, as a purgative in the 19th century and well into the early part of the 20th century, with veterinarians prescribing these to constipated cattle and horses....

, Catholicon

Catholicon (electuary)

In pre-modern medicine, catholicon was a soft electuary, so called as being supposedly universal in its curative and prophylactic abilities ; or a purger of all humours.Different authors have given different recipes for catholicon...

, Daffy's Elixir

Daffy's Elixir

Daffy's Elixir is a name that has been used by several patent medicines over the years. It was originally designed for diseases of the stomach, but was later marketed as a universal cure...

, Diasenna

Diasenna

In pre-modern medicine, diasenna is a soft, purgative electuary containing the plant senna...

 (literally meaning "composed of senna") and Swedish bitters

Swedish bitters

thumb|Bottle LabelSwedish bitters is a traditional herbal tonic, said to have been formulated originally by Paracelsus and rediscovered by 18th century Swedish medics Dr. Claus Samst and Dr. Urban Hjärne. In modern times it has been popularised by Maria Treben, an Austrian herbalist. It is claimed...

. On the other hand, it was contained in more dangerous "medications" such as the highly toxic antihelminthic Lumbricide and - because their purgative effects are a readily-observed "proof" that some concoction "works" - many generally useless and often poisonous "patent medicine

Patent medicine

Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...

".

Senna is also the primary ingredient found in most "diet

Dieting

Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes, however, follow a diet to gain weight...

er's teas". The combination of acting as a stimulant which reduces a dieter's appetite, and the laxative

Laxative

Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...

 properties that cause food to move through their system before as many calories can be absorbed is a combination that can lead to rapid and even dangerous weight loss. Additionally it's important to be on the lookout for side effects that can start appearing after 7 days of prolonged use.

The stimulant action of sennosides should be taken into account for those who suffer from any conditions where stimulants are contraindicated, such as past heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

, high blood pressure, anxiety attacks, etc. A (generally invisible and harmless) side effect of taking Senna medication regularly is Melanosis coli

Melanosis coli

Melanosis coli, also pseudomelanosis coli, is a disorder of pigmentation of the wall of the colon, often identified at the time of colonoscopy. It is benign, and may have no significant correlation with disease...

, a brown discoloration of the colon wall.

Selected species

• Senna acclinis (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna aculeata (Benth.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna alata
  Senna alata
  Senna alata, the Candle Bush, is an important medicinal tree as well as an ornamental flowering plants in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It also known as a Candelabra Bush, Empress Candle Plant, Ringworm Tree or "candletree"...
  
  (L.) Roxb. – Candle Bush, Candelabra Bush, Empress Candle Plant, Candlestick Tree, Ringworm Tree, "candletree"
• Senna alexandrina
  Senna alexandrina
  Senna alexandrina is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is also used in herbalism. It grows natively in upper Egypt, especially in the Nubian region, and near Khartoum , where it is cultivated commercially...
  
  Mill. – Alexandrian Senna, Egyptian Senna, Tinnevelly Senna, East Indian Senna, sene de la palthe (French)
• Senna angulata (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna appendiculata (Vogel) Wiersema (= S. australis)
• Senna armata
  Senna armata
  Senna armata is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names spiny senna and desert senna. It is native to the desert regions around the intersection of Nevada, Arizona, eastern California and northern Baja California, where it grows in sandy and rocky habitat, such...
  
  (S.Watson) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna artemisioides
  Senna artemisioides
  Senna artemisioides is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is commonly known as Silver Cassia or Feathery Cassia - although "cassia" generally refers to the largest-growing Cassiinae. Some of its distinct subspecies also have common names of their own...
  
  (Gaudich. ex DC.) Randell – Silver Senna, Feathery Senna
• Senna auriculata
  Senna auriculata
  Senna auriculata is a legume tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is commonly known by its local names ranawara or avaram, Senna auriculata is a legume tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is commonly known by its local names ranawara or avaram, Senna auriculata is a legume tree in the...
  
  (L.) Roxb. – Avaram Senna, avaram, ranawara
• Senna aversiflora (Herbert) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna bicapsularis
  Senna bicapsularis
  Senna bicapsularis is a species of the legume genus Senna, native to northern South America, from Panama south to Venezuela and Colombia, and also the West Indies. It is naturalised and invasive in several coastal areas in the tropics, including the Galápagos Islands and New Caledonia...
  
  – Rambling Senna, Christmas Bush, Money Bush, Yellow Candlewood
• Senna birostris (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna candolleana (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna cardiosperma (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna caudata
  Senna caudata
  Senna caudata is a flowering plant species in the legume family . It is a threatened species, found only in Costa Rica and Panama....
  
  (Standl.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (Costa Rica
  Costa Rica
  Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
  
  , Panama
  Panama
  Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
  
  )
• Senna cobanensis (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna corymbosa
  Senna corymbosa
  Senna corymbosa is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is also known as Argentine Senna, Argentina Senna, Buttercup Bush, Flowering Senna, Flowery Senna or Tree Senna....
  
  – Argentine Senna, Argentina Senna, Buttercup Bush, Flowering Senna, (Texas) Flowery Senna, Tree Senna
• Senna covesii
  Senna covesii
  Senna covesii is a perennial subshrub in the family Fabaceae, native to the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert in southeastern California, southern Nevada, and Arizona in the United States, and northern Baja California in Mexico...
  
  (A.Gray) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Desert Senna, Coues' Senna, Rattleweed
• Senna cumingii (Hook. & Arn.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna cuthbertsonii (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna didymobotrya
  Senna didymobotrya
  Senna didymobotrya is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names African senna, popcorn senna, candelabra tree, and peanut butter cassia. It is native to Africa, where it can be found across the continent in several types of habitat...
  
  (Fresen.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna domingensis
  Senna domingensis
  Senna domingensis is a flowering plant species in the legume family . It is a threatened species, found in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti....
  
  (Spreng.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (Cuba
  Cuba
  The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
  
  , Hispaniola
  Hispaniola
  Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
  
  )
• Senna excelsa (Schrad) Irwin & Barneby
• Senna fruticosa (Mill.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna garrettiana (Craib) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna gaudichaudii
  Senna gaudichaudii
  Senna gaudichaudii, known as Heuhiuhi in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to Queensland, Australia and the Pacific Islands. It is a shrub, reaching a height of . In Hawaii, heuhiuhi inhabits low shrublands, dry forests, coastal mesic forests...
  
  (Hook. & Arn.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Heuhiuhi (Pacific Islands
  Pacific Islands
  The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
  
  , Queensland
  Queensland
  Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
  
  )
• Senna hayesiana (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna hebecarpa
  Senna hebecarpa
  Senna hebecarpa is an ornamental plant native to North America, specially Canada and the United States....
  
  – American Senna, Wild Senna
• Senna helmsii
• Senna heptanthera (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna hirsuta (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  • Senna hirsuta var. puberula
• Senna italica
  Senna italica
  The Italian senna,Senna italica, is a legume tree in the genus Senna. It is recognized by many other common names based on the regions it grows in. In India, it is known as “Neutral Henna”. Most botanists and scientists recognize this plant as “Senegal Senna”. Italian Senna is easily...
  
  Mill.
  • Senna italica ssp. italica – Neutral Henna
• Senna ligustrina (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna lindheimeriana (Scheele) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Velvet-leaved Senna
• Senna macranthera
  Senna macranthera
  Senna macranthera is a tree in the family of Fabaceae.With a height of 6 to 9 m, it has an abundance of yellow flowers from December to April in its homelands.- External links :* H.S. Irwin et Barneby, at Tela Botanica...
  
  (Collad.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
  
  • Senna macranthera var. macranthera
• Senna magnifolia (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna marilandica
  Senna marilandica
  Senna marilandica, or Maryland Wild Senna, is a flowering plant in the United States....
  
  (L.) Link
• Senna martiana (Benth.
  George Bentham
  George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...
  
  ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
  
• Senna martiana (Schrad) Irwin & Barneby
• Senna multiglandulosa
  Senna multiglandulosa
  Senna multiglandulosa is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by several common names, including glandular senna, downy senna, and buttercup bush. It is native to Mexico, Guatemala, and western parts of South America, but it is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and in some...
  
  (Jacq.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna multijuga (Rich.
  Louis Claude Richard
  Louis Claude Marie Richard was a French botanist.Richard was born at Versailles. Between 1781 and 1789 he collected botanical specimens in Central America and the West Indies...
  
  ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
   
  • Senna multijuga var. lindleyana (Gardner
    George Gardner (botanist)
    George Gardner was a Scottish naturalist mainly interested in botany.Gardner's father was a gardener first to to the Earl of Dunmore in Ardentinny, then from 1816 to the Earl of Eglinton at Ardrossan. In 1822, his parents moved to Glasgow where he attended the grammar-school and acquired a...
    
    ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
    
    
• Senna nicaraguensis (Benth.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna nitida (Rich.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby
• Senna notabilis (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna obtusifolia
  Senna obtusifolia
  Senna obtusifolia is a legume in the genus Senna, sometimes separated in the monotypic genus Diallobus. It grows wild in North, Central, and South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and is considered a particularly serious weed in many places...
  
  (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Chinese Senna, Sicklepod, Foetid Senna, Sickle Senna, Coffeeweed, Arsenic Weed, "blunt-leaved senna", "coffee pod", "java bean"
• Senna occidentalis
  Senna occidentalis
  Senna occidentalis is a pantropical plant species.Vernacular names include : ʻauʻaukoʻi in Hawaii, coffee senna, coffeeweed, Mogdad coffee, negro-coffee, senna coffee, Stephanie coffee, stinkingweed or styptic weed....
  
  (L.) Link
  Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link
  Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link was a German naturalist and botanist.Link was born at Hildesheim as a son of the minister August Heinrich Link , who taught him the love for nature through collection of 'natural objects'...
  
  – Coffee Senna, Mogdad Coffee (Pantropical)
• Senna odorata (R. Morris) Randall
• Senna oligoclada (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna oligophylla
• Senna pallida (Vahl) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna papillosa (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna pendula (Willd.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  • Senna pendula var. glabrata
  • Senna pendula var. stahlii (Urb.) Irwin & Barneby
• Senna pleurocarpa (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna polyphylla (Jacq.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby
• Senna purpusii (Brandegee) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna reticulata
  Senna reticulata
  Senna reticulata, the mangerioba grande or maria mole in Portuguese, is a plant species found in South America.It is used in the local folk medicine for liver problems and rheumatism. 1,3,8-Trihydroxyanthraquinone is an organic compound found in alcoholic extracts of the wood of the plant...
  
  Willd
• Senna rugosa (G.Don.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
  
• Senna scandens
  Senna scandens
  Senna scandens is a flowering plant species in the legume family .It is an endangered species found only in Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests....
  
  
• Senna septemtrionalis
  Senna septemtrionalis
  Senna septemtrionalis is a plant species in the genus Senna....
  
  (Viv.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna siamea
  Senna siamea
  Senna siamea , also known as Kassod Tree or Cassod Tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown....
  
  (Lam.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Siamese Senna, khi-lek (Thai)

Senna (from Arabic sanā), the sennas, is a large genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

, subfamily Caesalpinioideae

Caesalpinioideae

Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name Caesalpinia....

. This diverse

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

 genus is native

Indigenous (ecology)

In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...

 throughout the tropics

Tropics

The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately  N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at  S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...

, with a small number of species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 reaching into temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

 regions. The number of species is usually estimated to be about 260, but some authors believe that there are as many as 350. The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 for the genus is Senna alexandrina

Senna alexandrina

Senna alexandrina is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is also used in herbalism. It grows natively in upper Egypt, especially in the Nubian region, and near Khartoum , where it is cultivated commercially...

. About 50 species of Senna are known in cultivation.

Description

The following description is rather cursory and based mostly on Irwin and Barneby (1982), but partly on Marazzi (2006) .

The sennas are typically shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s or subshrub

Subshrub

A subshrub or dwarf shrub is a short woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a similar term.It is distinguished from a shrub by its ground-hugging stems and lower height, with overwintering perennial woody growth typically less than 10–20 cm tall, or by being only weakly woody and/or persisting...

s, some becoming scandent when growing into other vegetation. Some are herbs

Herbaceous plant

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 or small tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s. Many species have extrafloral nectaries.

The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are paripinnately  compound, the leaflet

Leaflet

A leaflet in botany is a part of a compound leaf. A leaflet may resemble an entire leaf, but it is not borne on a stem as a leaf is, but rather on a vein of the whole leaf. Compound leaves are common in many plant families...

s opposite

Phyllotaxis

In botany, phyllotaxis or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem .- Pattern structure :...

. The inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a raceme

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

, or some arrangement or racemes. The pedicel

Pedicel (botany)

A pedicel is a stem that attaches single flowers to the main stem of the inflorescence. It is the branches or stalks that hold each flower in an inflorescence that contains more than one flower....

s lack bracteoles.

The flowers produce no nectar. They are buzz pollinated and offer pollen

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...

 as a reward to pollinator

Pollinator

A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain...

s. They are often asymmetric

Asymmetric

Something which is asymmetric displays asymmetry. Specific uses of the term may include:*Asymmetric relation for information on such relations in mathematics and set theory*Asymmetric warfare for information and theories of modern war...

. The petal

Petal

Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...

s are 5 in number, similar to each other, yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...

, or rarely white

White

White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...

.

The stamen

Stamen

The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...

s may be as few as 4, but usually there are 10. When 10, they occur in 3 sets. The 3 adaxial stamens are staminodial

Staminode

In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen. This means that it does not produce pollen. Staminodes are frequently inconspicuous and stamen-like, usually occurring at the inner whorl of the flower, but are also sometimes long enough to protrude from the...

. The 4 medial stamens are smaller than the 3 abaxial stamens. The anthers are basifixed and open

Dehiscence

Dehiscence can refer to:*Dehiscence is the spontaneous opening at maturity of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents.*Wound dehiscence is a previously closed wound reopening....

 by two terminal pores or short slits.

The gynoecium

Gynoecium

Gynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for all carpels in a flower. A carpel is the ovule and seed producing reproductive organ in flowering plants. Carpels are derived from ovule-bearing leaves which evolved to form a closed structure containing the ovules...

 is often enantiostylous; that is, it is deflected laterally to the right or left. This makes the flower asymmetric

Asymmetric

Something which is asymmetric displays asymmetry. Specific uses of the term may include:*Asymmetric relation for information on such relations in mathematics and set theory*Asymmetric warfare for information and theories of modern war...

, but the perianth

Perianth

The term perianth has two similar but separate meanings in botany:* In flowering plants, the perianth are the outer, sterile whorls of a flower...

 and the androecium may be asymmetrical as well.

The fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 is a legume, indehiscent

Dehiscence

Dehiscence can refer to:*Dehiscence is the spontaneous opening at maturity of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents.*Wound dehiscence is a previously closed wound reopening....

 or tardily dehiscent.

Affinities

Chamaecrista

Chamaecrista

Chamaecrista is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Members of the genus are commonly known as sensitive pea. Several species are capable of rapid plant movement.-Selected species:...

, Cassia, and Senna form a monophyletic group

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 which some authors have called Cassia sensu lato. In 1982, Howard Samuel Irwin and Rupert Charles Barneby

Rupert Charles Barneby

Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...

 called it subtribe Cassiinae of their tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...

 Cassieae. Cassieae, sensu

Sensu

Sensu is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of".It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used, but it also appears in expressions that indicate the convention or context of the usage.-Sensu and...

 Irwin and Barneby, contains 21 genera and is now known to be polyphyletic. Most authors continue to use the Irwin and Barneby classification

Biological classification

Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method to group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is part of scientific taxonomy....

 because a subsequent revision of Fabaceae has yet to be published.

Circumscription

The genus Senna has had a rather complex taxonomic history

History of plant systematics

The history of plant systematics—the biological classification of plants—stretches from the work of ancient Greek to modern evolutionary biologists. As a field of science, plant systematics came into being only slowly, early plant lore usually being treated as part of the study of...

. What is now known as Senna was included by Linnaeus in his concept of Cassia in Species Plantarum

Species Plantarum

Species Plantarum was first published in 1753, as a two-volume work by Carl Linnaeus. Its prime importance is perhaps that it is the primary starting point of plant nomenclature as it exists today. This means that the first names to be considered validly published in botany are those that appear...

in 1753. Philip Miller

Philip Miller

Philip Miller FRS was a Scottish botanist.Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 until he was pressured to retire shortly before his death...

 segregated

Segregate (taxonomy)

In taxonomy, a segregate, or a segregate taxon is created when a taxon is split off, from another taxon. This other taxon will be better known, usually bigger, and will continue to exist, even after the segregate taxon has been split off...

 Senna from Cassia in 1754 in the fourth edition of The Gardeners Dictionary

The Gardeners Dictionary

The Gardeners Dictionary was a widely cited reference series, written by Philip Miller, which tended to focus on plants cultivated in England. Many editions of the series were published.-Editions:-References:**-External links:*...

. Until Irwin and Barneby published their paper in 1982, many authors, following Linnaeus, did not recognize Senna and Chamaecrista, but included them in a broadly circumscribed

Circumscription (taxonomy)

In taxonomy, circumscription is the definition of the limits of a taxonomic group of organisms. One goal of taxonomy is to achieve a stable circumscription for every taxonomic group. Achieving stability can be simple or difficult....

 Cassia sensu lato. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequence

DNA sequence

The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...

s have shown that Chamaecrista, Cassia, and Senna are all monophyletic, but the relationships between these three genera have not been resolved. They are therefore shown in phylogenetic tree

Phylogenetic tree

A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree is a branching diagram or "tree" showing the inferred evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical and/or genetic characteristics...

s as a tritomy

Polytomy

A polytomy , meaning many temporal based branches, is a section of a phylogeny in which the evolutionary relationships can not be fully resolved to dichotomies. In a phylogenetic tree, a polytomy is represented as a node which has more than two immediate descending branches...

.

The division of Senna into sections

Section (botany)

In botany, a section is a taxonomic rank below the genus, but above the species. The subgenus, if present, is higher than the section, and the rank of series, if present, is below the section. Sections are typically used to help organise very large genera, which may have hundreds of species...

 and other infrageneric groups is in need of major revision, but none has been published since Irwin and Barneby published their classification in 1982.

Ecology and uses

Senna species make good ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s and are used for landscape gardening. The wide variety of species and ecological adaptations makes at least a handful of sennas suitable for any climate warmer than cool-temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

.

Cassia gum

Cassia gum

Cassia gum is a food additive made from the endosperm of Senna obtusifolia . It is used as a thickener and gelling agent, and has E-number E427....

 - a commonly-used thickening agent

Thickening agent

Thickening agents, or thickeners, is the term applied to substances which increase the viscosity of a solution or liquid/solid mixture without substantially modifying its other properties; although most frequently applied to foods where the target property is taste, the term also is applicable to...

 -, despite its name is actually from Chinese Senna (S. obtusifolia) seeds. In some Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

n cuisines (particularly those of Thailand and Laos), the leaves and flowers of Siamese Senna (S. siamea

Senna siamea

Senna siamea , also known as Kassod Tree or Cassod Tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown....

, called khi-lek in Thai

Thai language

Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...

), either fresh or pickled in brine

Brine

Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...

, are used in cooking, particularly in gaeng khi-lek (khi-lek curry).

Another senna, Senna italica

Senna italica

The Italian senna,Senna italica, is a legume tree in the genus Senna. It is recognized by many other common names based on the regions it grows in. In India, it is known as “Neutral Henna”. Most botanists and scientists recognize this plant as “Senegal Senna”. Italian Senna is easily...

ssp. italica (= Cassia obovata), often called "neutral henna", is used as a hair treatment

Hair coloring

Hair coloring is the practice of changing the color of hair. Common reasons are to cover gray hair, to change to a color regarded as more fashionable or desirable, and to restore the original hair color after it has been discolored by hairdressing processes or sun bleaching...

 with effects similar to henna

Henna

Henna is a flowering plant used since antiquity to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather and wool. The name is also used for dye preparations derived from the plant, and for the art of temporary tattooing based on those dyes...

 but without the red color. The active component is an anthraquinone derivative called chrysophanic acid, which is also found in higher concentrations in rhubarb

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a group of plants that belong to the genus Rheum in the family Polygonaceae. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing from short, thick rhizomes. They have large leaves that are somewhat triangular-shaped with long fleshy petioles...

 root. It adds a slight yellow color.


Some species of Senna are notable for being host to caterpillar

Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...

s of certain Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species, for example:

• Ascalapha odorata
  Ascalapha odorata
  The noctuid moth Ascalapha odorata bears the common name Black Witch. It is considered a harbinger of death in Mexican and Caribbean folklore...
  
  (Black Witch Moth) – recorded on Candle Bush (S. alata)
• Astraptes fulgerator (Two-barred Flasher) – recorded on Candle Bush (S. alata), S. cobanensis, S. hayesiana, S. pallida, S. papillosa, S. undulata and probably others [note 1]
• Catopsilia pomona
  Catopsilia pomona
  The Common Emigrant or Lemon Emigrant is a medium sized pierid butterfly found in Asia and parts of Australia. The species gets its name from its habit of migration. Some early authors considered them as two distinct species Catopsilia crocale and Catopsilia pomona.-Description:The species has...
  
  (Common Emigrant, Lemon Emigrant) – recorded on Candle Bush (S. alata) and possibly others
• Catopsilia pyranthe
  Catopsilia pyranthe
  The Mottled Emigrant, Catopsilia pyranthe, is a medium sized butterfly of the Family Pieridae found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of Australia.-Male:The upperside is chalky-white, slightly tinted in some specimens with green...
  
  (Mottled Emigrant) – recorded from Candle Bush (S. alata), Avaram Senna (S. auriculata), S. garrettiana and probably others
• Phoebis sennae (Cloudless Sulphur)

They are pollinated by a variety of bees, especially large female bees in genera such as Xylocopa. Some species also have extrafloral nectaries on the leaves or flower stalks, which attract ants but do not benefit pollinators. The ants probably deter herbivores.

In medicine

Sennas have for millennia played a major role in herbalism

Herbalism

Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, herblore, and phytotherapy...

 and folk medicine

Folk medicine

-Description:Refers to healing practices and ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to a limited segment of the population in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience.All cultures and societies...

. Alexandrian Senna (S. alexandrina) was and still is a significant item of trans-national trade e.g. by the Ababdeh people and grown commercially, traditionally along the middle Nile

Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...

 but more generally in many regions around the northwestern Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

.

Sennas act as purgatives and are similar to aloe

Aloe

Aloe , also Aloë, is a genus containing about 500 species of flowering succulent plants. The most common and well known of these is Aloe vera, or "true aloe"....

 and rhubarb

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a group of plants that belong to the genus Rheum in the family Polygonaceae. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing from short, thick rhizomes. They have large leaves that are somewhat triangular-shaped with long fleshy petioles...

 in having as active ingredients anthraquinone

Anthraquinone

Anthraquinone, also called anthracenedione or dioxoanthracene is an aromatic organic compound with formula . Several isomers are possible, each of which can be viewed as a quinone derivative...

 derivatives and their glucoside

Glucoside

A glucoside is a glycoside that is derived from glucose. Glucosides are common in plants, but rare in animals. Glucose is produced when a glucoside is hydrolysed by purely chemical means, or decomposed by fermentation or enzymes....

s. The latter are called sennosides or senna glycosides

Senna glycosides

Senna glycosides or sennosides are a number of anthraquinone derivatives useful as a laxative. They are dimeric glycosides named after their abundant occurrence in plants of the genus Senna....

. Senna alexandrina is used in modern medicine as a laxative

Laxative

Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...

; acting on the lower bowel, it is especially useful in alleviating constipation

Constipation

Constipation refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. Constipation is a common cause of painful defecation...

. It increases the peristaltic

Peristalsis

Peristalsis is a radially symmetrical contraction and relaxation of muscles which propagates in a wave down the muscular tube, in an anterograde fashion. In humans, peristalsis is found in the contraction of smooth muscles to propel contents through the digestive tract. Earthworms use a similar...

 movements of the colon

Colon (anatomy)

The colon is the last part of the digestive system in most vertebrates; it extracts water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body, and is the site in which flora-aided fermentation of unabsorbed material occurs. Unlike the small intestine, the colon does not play a...

 by irritating the colonic mucosa. The plants are most often prepared as an infusion

Infusion

An infusion is the outcome of steeping plants with desired chemical compounds or flavors in water or oil.-History:The first recorded use of essential oils was in the 10th or 11th century by the Persian polymath Avicenna, possibly in The Canon of Medicine.-Preparation techniques:An infusion is very...

. Senna glycosides are listed as ATC code

ATC code A06

-A06AA Softeners, emollients:-A06AA Softeners, emollients:-A06AA Softeners, emollients::A06AA01 Liquid paraffin:A06AA02 Docusate sodium:A06AA51 Liquid paraffin, combinations-A06AB Contact laxatives::A06AB01 Oxyphenisatine:A06AB02 Bisacodyl:A06AB03 Dantron...

 A06AB06 on their own and A06AB56 in combined preparations.

As regards other chemicals, the antiinflammatory compound resveratrol

Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol, and a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi....

 was first isolated from S. quinquangulata, and Siamese Senna S. siamea

Senna siamea

Senna siamea , also known as Kassod Tree or Cassod Tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown....

contains barakol

Barakol

Barakol is a compound found in the plant Senna siamea, which is used in traditional herbal medicine. It has sedative and anxiolytic effects, but use for these purposes is now discouraged due to hepatotoxicity....

 used to counteract aconitine

Aconitine

Aconitine is a highly poisonous alkaloid derived from various aconite species.-Uses:...

 poisoning. Chinese Senna (S. obtusifolia) seeds are also used in Kampō

Kampo

, alternatively shortened as just , is the Japanese study and adaptation of Traditional Chinese medicine. The basic works of Chinese medicine came to Japan between the 7th and 9th centuries. Since then, the Japanese have created their own unique herbal medical system and diagnosis...

 (traditional Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese medicine) where they are called ketsumei-shi (ケツメイシ, 決明子) or by their Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 name jué míng zǐ (traditional

Traditional Chinese character

Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...

: 決明子, simplified

Simplified Chinese character

Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language...

: 决明子).

The long-standing use of (mainly) Alexandrian Senna is reflected by its presence in many herbal remedies and tonics. These include for example Black draught

Black draught

A black draught was a saline aperient mixture used, along with a blue pill, as a purgative in the 19th century and well into the early part of the 20th century, with veterinarians prescribing these to constipated cattle and horses....

, Catholicon

Catholicon (electuary)

In pre-modern medicine, catholicon was a soft electuary, so called as being supposedly universal in its curative and prophylactic abilities ; or a purger of all humours.Different authors have given different recipes for catholicon...

, Daffy's Elixir

Daffy's Elixir

Daffy's Elixir is a name that has been used by several patent medicines over the years. It was originally designed for diseases of the stomach, but was later marketed as a universal cure...

, Diasenna

Diasenna

In pre-modern medicine, diasenna is a soft, purgative electuary containing the plant senna...

 (literally meaning "composed of senna") and Swedish bitters

Swedish bitters

thumb|Bottle LabelSwedish bitters is a traditional herbal tonic, said to have been formulated originally by Paracelsus and rediscovered by 18th century Swedish medics Dr. Claus Samst and Dr. Urban Hjärne. In modern times it has been popularised by Maria Treben, an Austrian herbalist. It is claimed...

. On the other hand, it was contained in more dangerous "medications" such as the highly toxic antihelminthic Lumbricide and - because their purgative effects are a readily-observed "proof" that some concoction "works" - many generally useless and often poisonous "patent medicine

Patent medicine

Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...

".

Senna is also the primary ingredient found in most "diet

Dieting

Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes, however, follow a diet to gain weight...

er's teas". The combination of acting as a stimulant which reduces a dieter's appetite, and the laxative

Laxative

Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...

 properties that cause food to move through their system before as many calories can be absorbed is a combination that can lead to rapid and even dangerous weight loss. Additionally it's important to be on the lookout for side effects that can start appearing after 7 days of prolonged use.

The stimulant action of sennosides should be taken into account for those who suffer from any conditions where stimulants are contraindicated, such as past heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

, high blood pressure, anxiety attacks, etc. A (generally invisible and harmless) side effect of taking Senna medication regularly is Melanosis coli

Melanosis coli

Melanosis coli, also pseudomelanosis coli, is a disorder of pigmentation of the wall of the colon, often identified at the time of colonoscopy. It is benign, and may have no significant correlation with disease...

, a brown discoloration of the colon wall.

Selected species

• Senna acclinis (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna aculeata (Benth.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna alata
  Senna alata
  Senna alata, the Candle Bush, is an important medicinal tree as well as an ornamental flowering plants in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It also known as a Candelabra Bush, Empress Candle Plant, Ringworm Tree or "candletree"...
  
  (L.) Roxb. – Candle Bush, Candelabra Bush, Empress Candle Plant, Candlestick Tree, Ringworm Tree, "candletree"
• Senna alexandrina
  Senna alexandrina
  Senna alexandrina is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is also used in herbalism. It grows natively in upper Egypt, especially in the Nubian region, and near Khartoum , where it is cultivated commercially...
  
  Mill. – Alexandrian Senna, Egyptian Senna, Tinnevelly Senna, East Indian Senna, sene de la palthe (French)
• Senna angulata (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna appendiculata (Vogel) Wiersema (= S. australis)
• Senna armata
  Senna armata
  Senna armata is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names spiny senna and desert senna. It is native to the desert regions around the intersection of Nevada, Arizona, eastern California and northern Baja California, where it grows in sandy and rocky habitat, such...
  
  (S.Watson) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna artemisioides
  Senna artemisioides
  Senna artemisioides is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is commonly known as Silver Cassia or Feathery Cassia - although "cassia" generally refers to the largest-growing Cassiinae. Some of its distinct subspecies also have common names of their own...
  
  (Gaudich. ex DC.) Randell – Silver Senna, Feathery Senna
• Senna auriculata
  Senna auriculata
  Senna auriculata is a legume tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is commonly known by its local names ranawara or avaram, Senna auriculata is a legume tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is commonly known by its local names ranawara or avaram, Senna auriculata is a legume tree in the...
  
  (L.) Roxb. – Avaram Senna, avaram, ranawara
• Senna aversiflora (Herbert) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna bicapsularis
  Senna bicapsularis
  Senna bicapsularis is a species of the legume genus Senna, native to northern South America, from Panama south to Venezuela and Colombia, and also the West Indies. It is naturalised and invasive in several coastal areas in the tropics, including the Galápagos Islands and New Caledonia...
  
  – Rambling Senna, Christmas Bush, Money Bush, Yellow Candlewood
• Senna birostris (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna candolleana (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna cardiosperma (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna caudata
  Senna caudata
  Senna caudata is a flowering plant species in the legume family . It is a threatened species, found only in Costa Rica and Panama....
  
  (Standl.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (Costa Rica
  Costa Rica
  Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
  
  , Panama
  Panama
  Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
  
  )
• Senna cobanensis (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna corymbosa
  Senna corymbosa
  Senna corymbosa is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is also known as Argentine Senna, Argentina Senna, Buttercup Bush, Flowering Senna, Flowery Senna or Tree Senna....
  
  – Argentine Senna, Argentina Senna, Buttercup Bush, Flowering Senna, (Texas) Flowery Senna, Tree Senna
• Senna covesii
  Senna covesii
  Senna covesii is a perennial subshrub in the family Fabaceae, native to the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert in southeastern California, southern Nevada, and Arizona in the United States, and northern Baja California in Mexico...
  
  (A.Gray) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Desert Senna, Coues' Senna, Rattleweed
• Senna cumingii (Hook. & Arn.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna cuthbertsonii (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna didymobotrya
  Senna didymobotrya
  Senna didymobotrya is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names African senna, popcorn senna, candelabra tree, and peanut butter cassia. It is native to Africa, where it can be found across the continent in several types of habitat...
  
  (Fresen.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna domingensis
  Senna domingensis
  Senna domingensis is a flowering plant species in the legume family . It is a threatened species, found in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti....
  
  (Spreng.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (Cuba
  Cuba
  The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
  
  , Hispaniola
  Hispaniola
  Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
  
  )
• Senna excelsa (Schrad) Irwin & Barneby
• Senna fruticosa (Mill.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna garrettiana (Craib) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna gaudichaudii
  Senna gaudichaudii
  Senna gaudichaudii, known as Heuhiuhi in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to Queensland, Australia and the Pacific Islands. It is a shrub, reaching a height of . In Hawaii, heuhiuhi inhabits low shrublands, dry forests, coastal mesic forests...
  
  (Hook. & Arn.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Heuhiuhi (Pacific Islands
  Pacific Islands
  The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
  
  , Queensland
  Queensland
  Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
  
  )
• Senna hayesiana (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna hebecarpa
  Senna hebecarpa
  Senna hebecarpa is an ornamental plant native to North America, specially Canada and the United States....
  
  – American Senna, Wild Senna
• Senna helmsii
• Senna heptanthera (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna hirsuta (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  • Senna hirsuta var. puberula
• Senna italica
  Senna italica
  The Italian senna,Senna italica, is a legume tree in the genus Senna. It is recognized by many other common names based on the regions it grows in. In India, it is known as “Neutral Henna”. Most botanists and scientists recognize this plant as “Senegal Senna”. Italian Senna is easily...
  
  Mill.
  • Senna italica ssp. italica – Neutral Henna
• Senna ligustrina (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna lindheimeriana (Scheele) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Velvet-leaved Senna
• Senna macranthera
  Senna macranthera
  Senna macranthera is a tree in the family of Fabaceae.With a height of 6 to 9 m, it has an abundance of yellow flowers from December to April in its homelands.- External links :* H.S. Irwin et Barneby, at Tela Botanica...
  
  (Collad.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
  
  • Senna macranthera var. macranthera
• Senna magnifolia (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna marilandica
  Senna marilandica
  Senna marilandica, or Maryland Wild Senna, is a flowering plant in the United States....
  
  (L.) Link
• Senna martiana (Benth.
  George Bentham
  George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...
  
  ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
  
• Senna martiana (Schrad) Irwin & Barneby
• Senna multiglandulosa
  Senna multiglandulosa
  Senna multiglandulosa is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by several common names, including glandular senna, downy senna, and buttercup bush. It is native to Mexico, Guatemala, and western parts of South America, but it is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and in some...
  
  (Jacq.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna multijuga (Rich.
  Louis Claude Richard
  Louis Claude Marie Richard was a French botanist.Richard was born at Versailles. Between 1781 and 1789 he collected botanical specimens in Central America and the West Indies...
  
  ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
   
  • Senna multijuga var. lindleyana (Gardner
    George Gardner (botanist)
    George Gardner was a Scottish naturalist mainly interested in botany.Gardner's father was a gardener first to to the Earl of Dunmore in Ardentinny, then from 1816 to the Earl of Eglinton at Ardrossan. In 1822, his parents moved to Glasgow where he attended the grammar-school and acquired a...
    
    ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
    
    
• Senna nicaraguensis (Benth.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna nitida (Rich.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby
• Senna notabilis (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna obtusifolia
  Senna obtusifolia
  Senna obtusifolia is a legume in the genus Senna, sometimes separated in the monotypic genus Diallobus. It grows wild in North, Central, and South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and is considered a particularly serious weed in many places...
  
  (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Chinese Senna, Sicklepod, Foetid Senna, Sickle Senna, Coffeeweed, Arsenic Weed, "blunt-leaved senna", "coffee pod", "java bean"
• Senna occidentalis
  Senna occidentalis
  Senna occidentalis is a pantropical plant species.Vernacular names include : ʻauʻaukoʻi in Hawaii, coffee senna, coffeeweed, Mogdad coffee, negro-coffee, senna coffee, Stephanie coffee, stinkingweed or styptic weed....
  
  (L.) Link
  Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link
  Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link was a German naturalist and botanist.Link was born at Hildesheim as a son of the minister August Heinrich Link , who taught him the love for nature through collection of 'natural objects'...
  
  – Coffee Senna, Mogdad Coffee (Pantropical)
• Senna odorata (R. Morris) Randall
• Senna oligoclada (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna oligophylla
• Senna pallida (Vahl) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna papillosa (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna pendula (Willd.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  • Senna pendula var. glabrata
  • Senna pendula var. stahlii (Urb.) Irwin & Barneby
• Senna pleurocarpa (F.Muell.) Randell
• Senna polyphylla (Jacq.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby
• Senna purpusii (Brandegee) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna reticulata
  Senna reticulata
  Senna reticulata, the mangerioba grande or maria mole in Portuguese, is a plant species found in South America.It is used in the local folk medicine for liver problems and rheumatism. 1,3,8-Trihydroxyanthraquinone is an organic compound found in alcoholic extracts of the wood of the plant...
  
  Willd
• Senna rugosa (G.Don.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby
  Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
  
  
• Senna scandens
  Senna scandens
  Senna scandens is a flowering plant species in the legume family .It is an endangered species found only in Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests....
  
  
• Senna septemtrionalis
  Senna septemtrionalis
  Senna septemtrionalis is a plant species in the genus Senna....
  
  (Viv.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
• Senna siamea
  Senna siamea
  Senna siamea , also known as Kassod Tree or Cassod Tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown....
  
  (Lam.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Siamese Senna, khi-lek (Thai)
  • Senna spectabilis (DC.) Irwin & Barneby
    • Senna spectabilis var. excelsa
    • Senna spectabilis var. micans - sometimes placed in Senna macranthera
  • Senna splendida (Vogel
    Julius Rudolph Theodor Vogel
    Julius Rudolph Theodor Vogel was a botanist. His author abbreviation is Vogel.-References:...
    
    ) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
    
    
  • Senna surattensis (Burm.f.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (= S. speciosa Roxb.
    William Roxburgh
    William Roxburgh was a Scottish surgeon and botanist. He has been called the Father of Indian Botany.-Early life:Roxburgh was born at Underwood in the parish of Craigie, Ayrshire. He studied medicine in Edinburgh...
    
    )
  • Senna sulfurea (Collad.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  • Senna sylvestris (Vell.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby
    Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
    
    
    • Senna sylvestris var. bifaria H.S.Irwin & Barneby
      Rupert Charles Barneby
      Rupert Charles Barneby was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae , the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups...
      
      
  • Senna timoriensis (DC.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  • Senna tora
    Senna tora
    Senna tora is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It's name has been derived from Sinhala language, in which it is called Tora . In Sri Lanka it is easily found in many places. It grows wild in most of the tropics and is considered a weed in many places; its native range is not well known...
    
    L. – Sickle Wild Sensitive-plant
  • Senna trolliiflora
    Senna trolliiflora
    Senna trolliiflora is a flowering plant species in the legume family .It is a near-threatened species found only in Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests....
    
    
  • Senna undulata (Vahl) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
  • Senna venusta (F.Muell.) Randell
  • Senna wislizeni
    Senna wislizeni
    Senna wislizeni is commonly called Wislizenus' Senna or Shrubby Senna...
    
    – Wislizenus' Senna, Shrubby Senna
  
  

  Footnotes

  1. Hébert et al. (2004) refer to "Cassia emarginata", which today is either of Chamaecrista pilosa, Rambling Senna (S. bicapsularis) or Senna candolleana. The last does not occur in their study area; given the general importance of Senna species and the lack of records for Chamaecrista species as foodplants in the study area, S. bicapsularis seems to be the plant in question. See also Brower (2006).
  

  External links

  (2005): Genus Senna. Version 10.01, November 2005. Retrieved 2007-DEC-22.
  • U.S. Agriculture Department - PLANTS Database - Senna
  • Connecticut Botanical Society - American Senna
  The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.