32 LEAVES 



ALEXANDRIAN SENNA LEAVES 

 (Senna Alexandrina) 



Source, &c. Alexandrian senna consists of the leaflets of Cassia 

 acutifolia, Delile (N.O. Leguminosce), a small shrub from 1 to 1'5 

 metres in height, indigenous to and cultivated in the middle and 

 upper Nile territories, and cultivated also in India. The medicinal 

 value of the pods and leaves of the plant was known to the Arabian 

 physicians of the tenth and eleventh centuries, through whom European 

 physicians probably became acquainted with the drug. 



Alexandrian senna is collected by Bedouins, chiefly from wild 

 plants between Suakin and Kassala, the shrubs being cut down and 

 dried. The drug is either cleaned in the Soudan or sent in the crude 



FIG. 20. Alexandrian Senna leaves. Natural size. 



state to Cairo, Alexandria or Suez and there cleaned and sorted 

 from stalks, stones, etc. It is exported from Alexandria. 



Description. The plant produces a paripinnate compound leaf 

 about 10 cm. in length. The leaflets average about 2*5 cm. in length, 

 seldom exceeding 4 cm., and, when dried, are of a pale greyish green 

 colour, thin, and brittle, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate in outline, 

 with an entire margin and acute, mucronate apex. They are decidedly 

 unequal at the base, and on the under surface the veins are distinct. 

 When examined with a lens both surfaces of the leaf are seen to be 

 pubescent, small hairs being distinctly visible, especially near the 

 veins. 



The leaves frequently appear in commerce in a more or less broken 

 condition due to their brittle, papery texture. They curl slightly 

 as they dry, and, being loosely packed, retain this appearance ; Indian 

 senna leaves, on the other hand, being pressed into bales, are commonly 

 flat and bear other evidence of the pressure to which they have been 

 subjected. 



Alexandrian senna has a fault but characteristic odour and a 

 mucilaginous, mawkish, unpleasant taste. 



