CASSIA SENNA, ORD. XXV. Lomentacece. 443 
Senna is a native of Egypt: it also grows in some parts of 
Arabia, especially about Mocha; but as Alexandria has ever been 
the great mart from which it has been exported into Europe, it 
has long been distinguished by the name of Alexandrian Senna, 
or Bilan inc Meta: Bioadel, who was French Consul at several sea 
ports of the Levant, informs us, that the true Senna grows only in 
the woods of Ethiopia and in Arabia; for. that the Senna, which 
was brought from Saide and Tripoli was carried there by the 
Caravans,* and the negative testimony of Alpinus, who in his Lib. 
de piantis Zgypti does not notice Senna, may seem to strengthen 
this opinion. But as Hasselquist found this plant growing spon- 
taneously in-upper Egypt,’ the assertion of Mr. Blondel is not to 
be implicitly received. 
The Senna italica, or blunt-leaved Senna, is a variety of the 
Alexandrian species, which by its cultivation in the south of 
France, (Provence) has been found to assume this change;° it is 
less purgative* than the pointed-leaved Senna, and is therefore to 
be given in larger doses; it was employed.as a cathartic by Dr. 
Wright at Jamaica, where it grows on the sand banks near the sea. 
Senna appears to have been cultivated in England in the time 
of Parkinson‘ (1640); and Miller tells us, that by keeping these 
. 
* Savary, Dict. ii. 1537. 
> Resa, p. 532. Bergius says, ‘‘ Senna sponte provenit in A°gypto superiori,. 
& colliguntur folia a rusticis Arabibus, postquam semina matura produxit planta 
foliaque penitus fere exaruerunt. Hi Sennam vendunt principi (Schek) suo, qui 
iam Cairum mittit, emendam ab illo, in quem monopolium derivavit cohors- 
Janizarorum. Hic vero Sennam postea vendit Europexis. Sic demum Senna 
A£gyptiaca, revera optima, ad officinas nostras migrat.’ M. M. p. 338. See also 
Hasselquist, |. 
© Vide Gouan’s Letters to Salvador Soliva in Dis. Sobre el Sen de Espanna. 
Madrid. 1774. 
* Coste and Willemet Essais sur quelque plantes indigenes Medic. a Nancy. p, 25, 
© See Lond. Med. Journ. vol. 8. 
! Vide Park. Theat. p, 225, cited in Hort. Kew. 
