314 ODOROGRAPHIA. 
short, and rigid, with sharp thorny points. The fresh leaves beaten 
up with catechu dyes the nails and skin of a reddish-orange 
colour which is much admired by the women all over India. 
The freshly-made paste is laid on at bed-time and removed in the 
morning; the colour remains till the nails or epidermis is 
renewed or removed. ‘The leaves yield in decoction a porter- 
coloured or deep orange-coloured liquor which acids destroy 
although alkalies and infusions of astringent vegetables deepen 
it. Although this decoction dyes the fingers, it does not com- 
municate any colour to cloth variously prepared, or yield scarcely 
any precipitate. 
A large business is done in the leaves of this plant. The stems 
are cut several times a year and stripped of their leaves, which 
are dried in the sun and reduced to powder. The plants, which 
are cut down almost to the ground, throw out fresh shoots and 
suckers, which are cut with a sickle like the first. Several crops 
are thus yielded during many successive years. 
To obtain the flowers, the shrub is not pruned but allowed to 
attain the height of 2 or 3 metres, when it flowers in the second 
year after planting. Delchevalerie, writing in the ‘ Belgique 
Horticole, says the culture is easy and might probably be carried 
on successfully in Italy and the south of France. He considers 
the inermis, which has larger leaves, to be a different variety 
from the spinosa. Specimens of Hennah from Senegal, under 
the vernacular name of “ Foudeen,” were exhibited at the Paris 
Exhibition, 1878. Samples of the essential oil from Lucknow, 
under the local name of Mehndee-Ka-utter, were exhibited at the 
London Exhibition, 1862; the word Utter in Hindee being 
equivalent to otto and applying to all fragrant essential oils. 
The Hennah has been naturalized in the West Indies, where 
it is called the ‘ Jamaica Mignonette.”’ The powerful fragrance 
of its flowers has, however, more the resemblance to a combination 
of mignonette and rose. 
