NAT. ORDER. 



Lomentacece. 



CASSIA ELONGATA. PERUVIAN SENNA. 



Class X. Decandria. Order 1. Monogvnia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx four and five-cleft. Petals five. The three 

 superior Anthers sterile ; the three inferior beaked. 



Spe. Char. Leaflets from four to six pairs, sub-ovate. Petioles 

 without glands. 



The root is annual ; the stalks are strong w^oody, rough, veined, 

 branched, erect, and rise from two to three feet in height; the 

 leaves are split about one-fourth of their length from the point, 

 and stand on long petioles, irregularly placed upon the stalk and 

 branches ; the Jlowers are of a delicate changeable red, and placed 

 upon long peduncles; the corolla is composed of five petals, which 

 are roundish, long, entire, and of unequal size ; the filaments are 

 ten ; the seeds are brown, roundish, flat, and produced in a long round- 

 ish pod, divided by transverse partitions; the^ice;-* appear in July 

 and August. 



This most beautiful plant is said to be a native of Peru, where 

 it is cultivated chiefly for medicinal uses. Its properties are the 

 same as those of the Alexandria Senna, although not as powerful, 

 yet equally valuable as a medicine. The plants which yield senna, 

 belong to the genus cassia, of which a large number of species 

 contribute to furnish the drug as found in our shops. These were 

 confounded together by Linnaeus as one species, which he named 

 Cassia Senna. Since his time the subject has been more thoroughly 

 investigated by able botanists, who have discovered a variety of 



Vol. ii.— 9 



