256 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Stephenson and Churchill t. 30, but Pereira considers this plate to represent 

 the C. ovata of Merat and De Lens ; and Lindley that it is intended for 



the C. acutifolia, Delille. This 

 Flg - 131 - shows that these plants can 



at most be but varieties of each 



other. 



b. C. acutifolia, Delille. — In this the 

 leaves are lanceolate and acute ; the 

 pods being flat and elliptical, and 

 curved at the upper margin. It is the 

 C. acutifolia, Delille (FL d'Egypte, t. 

 27, fig. 1), and Esenbeck and Eberm. t. 

 346 ; C. lanceolata, Nectoux. 



This variety also grows in 

 Upper Egypt, and leaves answer- 

 ing to the description are always 

 to be found in the Alexandria senna 

 of commerce. 



Dr. Royle observes of these 

 varieties that he is " unable to 

 distinguish them by any perma- 

 nent characters ; nor dried Senna 

 leaves cultivated at Saharunpore 

 from good specimens of Bombay 

 Senna (that is ordinary Indian 

 Senna) imported from India ; nor 

 those from Surra Mukki sent him 

 by Dr. Malcolmson from Aden, 



and which he states are the produce of Africa, but in appearance exactly 



resemble the Arabian Senna." 



C. medica, var. C. acutifolia, Nees. 

 a. Detached flower. 



2. C. obovata, Colladon. — Leaflets in 4 — 7 pairs, smooth, obovate, rounded, mucronate, 

 Legumes oblong, falcate, membranous, smooth, rounded at each end. 



Colladon, Man. 92; De Candolle, Prod. ii. 192; Lindley, FL Med. 259; 

 C. senna, 3 ; Linn. Sp. PL 539 ; Nectoux, Voyage, PL 1 ; Lam. Illus. t. 

 332 ; C. obtusa, Wight and Arnott, i. 288 ; Senna obtusa, Roxburgh, FL 

 Ind. ii. 344; C. porturegalis, Bancroft, C. burmanni; Wallich, Med. Jour. 

 1837. 



A perennial shrub, about eighteen inches high. Stem pubescent at base, cylindrical. 

 Leaves alternate, with two subulate, entire, persistent stipules at base ; with from four to 

 seven pairs of leaflets, which are opposite, nearly sessile, oboval, cuneiform, obtuse but 

 mucronate, unequal at base ; the uppermost gradually the largest, slightly pubescent. 

 The flowers are pale yellow, and are disposed in erect, rather lax axillary racemes. The 

 legumes oblong, fulcate, membranous, smooth, rounded at the two ends, with an elevated, 

 interrupted ridge along the middle. The seeds are 6 — 8 and heart-shaped. 



This species is found in Egypt, Nubia, Central Africa, Cape de Verds, 

 India, &c, and has been naturalized in some of the West Indian islands, and 

 cultivated in many parts of Southern Europe. It furnishes an inferior Senna, 

 known under the name of Italian and Aleppo Senna, and is also one of the 

 constituents of the Alexandrian. The C. obtusata of Heyne does not appear 

 to differ materially from this speCies. 



