ETYMOLOGY
Senna from the Latin “sen” and the Latin “Cassia” from the greek Kasia, which is of Eastern origin.

BOTANICAL INFORMATION

Family: Fabaceae

Description: A shrub about 1-1.5 m high, which presents a racemic inflorescences with numerous yellow, zygomorphic flowers, about 3 cm in size. The leaves are paripinnate with an oval-lanceolate shape, while the follicles are flat and take on a slightly curved kidney-shape. The seeds are pale greenish-brown seeds, the bark of the plant is markedly flat.

Habitat: The genus Cassia species includes about 700 sub-species who live in the warm areas of both hemispheres. The species used for medicinal purposes are Cassia angustifolia (Senna of Tinnevelly), native to Somalia, Arabia and Yemen, but now also cultivated in South India, especially in the region of Tinnevelly and Cassia acutifolia and Cassia senna ( Alexandrian Senna), which is found wild in the tropics and in Sudan.

Cultivation: Whether planted from seeds in the spring or from cuttings in early summer, senna plants require ample sunshine.

Method of Harvest: The leaves can be harvested before or during flowering and the pods are mature in the autumn.

Parts Utilized: Leaves and Pods.

ACTIVE CONSTITUENTS: Glycosidic derivatives of anthracenic compounds called senosides.

MODE OF ACTION

Actions: Cassia angustifolia is an effective laxative.

Precautions: The leaves and fruits of senna should not be used during pregnancy or lactation or concurrently with inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. An overdose of Senna can result in abdominal colic and diarrhea.

COMMON INDICATIONS

As a medicinal herb: Preparations of Cassia angustifolia are useful in occasional constipation and should result in an easy bowel evacuation with soft stool.

Traditional use: The leaves of senna have been used for centuries in both western and eastern cultures as a laxative in the form of a tea or powder.

PREPARATION AND USE

Internal Use: The average recommended daily dose is 20-30 mg of the anthracenic compounds, which  calculated as sennoside B. Infusion: 0.5-2 g of chopped herb steeped in 150 ml of hot water. Strain after 10 minutes and drink 1 cup in the morning or preferably in the evening. An infusion can also be prepared by placing the herb in cold water and letting it soak for 10-12 hours.

HISTORY AND LEGENDS

The seventeenth century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, who was able to prescribe an herb for every illness, could not hold senna to just one use and affirmed that it "cleanses the stomach, scours melancholy and phlegm from the head, brain, lungs, heart, liver and spleen, and purified the organs from bad moods. " Other herbalists usually only recommended the senna as a laxative. Native Americans recognized the native specie’s laxative action, but used it primarily as an anti-pyretic. In Eclectic Medicine, which was heavily influenced by Indian medicine, senna was judged as "very useful in all forms of febrile disease in which laxative action is desirable".

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