Senna obtusifolia
Encyclopedia
- "Cassia humilis" redirects here. This taxonTaxon|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
may also refer to other speciesSpeciesIn 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...
; see below.
Senna obtusifolia (Chinese Senna or Sicklepod) is a legume in the 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...
Senna
Senna (genus)
Senna , the sennas, is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. This diverse genus is native throughout the tropics, with a small number of species reaching into temperate regions. The number of species is usually estimated to be about 260, but some...
, sometimes separated in the monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus Diallobus. It grows wild in North
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Central
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, and is considered a particularly serious weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
in many places. It has a long-standing history of confusion with 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...
and that taxon
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
in many sources actually refers to the present species.
Its leaves, seeds, and root are used in 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...
, primarily in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. It is believed to possess 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...
effect, as well as to be beneficial for the eyes. As a folk remedy, the seeds are often roasted, then boiled in water to produce a tea. The plant's seeds are a commercial source of 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 food additive usually used as a thickener and named for the Chinese Senna's former placement in the genus Cassia
Cassia (genus)
Cassia is a genus of Fabaceae in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Commonly called cassias, "cassia" is also the English name of Cinnamomum aromaticum in the Lauraceae , and some other species of Cinnamomum...
. Roasted and ground, the seeds have also been used as a substitute for coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
. In traditional Korean medicine
Traditional Korean medicine
Traditional Korean medicine developed with the influence of other traditional medicine. Its techniques in treatment and diagnosis are both similar and unique to other traditional medicine...
, they are called gyeolmyeongja (결명자) and usually prepared as tea. They 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).
This plant is a conspicuous member of the flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
of its native home. It evoked powerful images to the celebrated Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
poet Du Fu
Du Fu
Du Fu was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty.Along with Li Bai , he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant, but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations...
(杜甫), who in one of his "Sighs of Autumn Rain" poems (Qiū yǔ tàn, 秋雨叹) discussed it thus:
In autumn rain, the grasses rot and die, / Below the steps, the Chinese Senna's colour is fresh.
Full green leaves cover the stems like feathers, / And countless flowers bloom like golden coins.
The cold wind, moaning, blows against you fiercely, / I fear that soon you'll find it hard to stand.
Upstairs the scholar lets down his white hair, / He faces the wind, breathes the fragrance, and weeps.
Names, taxonomy & identifier
Apart from "sicklepod" and Chinese senna", S. obtusifolia has a wide range of common names. It is also known in English as Foetid Sassia (or "cassia"), Sickle Senna, Coffeeweed or Arsenic Weed, and somewhat ambiguously as "blunt-leaved senna", "coffee podCoffee pod
Coffee pods are pre-packaged ground coffee beans in their own filter. In certain non-English speaking countries, such as Germany and The Netherlands, the word "pad" is used instead of "pod", for semantic reasons....
" or "java bean". The scientific name means "blunt-leaved senna", with obtusifolia coming from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
obtus ("dull", "blunt") + folium ("leaf").
Names in its native range are also:
- KoreanKorean languageKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
: gyeolmyeongja (hangulHangulHangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
: ; hanjaHanjaHanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
: ) - ChineseChinese languageThe 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...
: pinyinPinyinPinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: jué míng zi - JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
: ebisu-gusa ("EbisuEbisu (mythology)Ebisu , also transliterated Yebisu or called Hiruko or Kotoshiro-nushi-no-kami , is the Japanese god of fishermen, luck, and workingmen, as well as the guardian of the health of small children...
tree": エビスグサ; 胡草; 恵比須草) - Portuguese: fedegoso (also used for Senna macrantheraSenna macrantheraSenna 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...
and others) - HindiHindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
: chirauta chokad
Synonyms
Chinese Senna has been treated under a wide range of scientific names. Some are synonyms of Senna obtusifolia, others are names that have been applied to it in error. In addition, several of these names may also refer to related plants. In particular, the distinction between this species and Senna toraSenna 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...
was fraught with errors and misunderstandings:
- Cassia humilis Collad.
- Cassia humilis Steud. is a synonym of Chamaecrista kunthiana
- Cassia numilis Collad. is apparently a misprint and refers to Senna toraSenna toraSenna 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...
- Cassia obtusifolia L.
- Cassia tora auct. non L.
- Cassia tora L. is a synonym of Senna toraSenna toraSenna 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...
- Cassia tora L. var. b Wight & Arn.
- Cassia tora L. var. humilis (Collad.) Collad.
- Cassia tora L. var. obtusifolia (L.) Haines
- Cassia toroides Raf.
- Cassia toroides Roxb.
- Diallobus falcatus Raf.
- Diallobus uniflorus Raf.
- Senna toroides Roxb.
- Senna obtusifolia - Jue ming zi in Chinese
External links
- Cassia Seed page from ENaturalHealthCenter.com site
- Photos from Missouriplants.com site