FLOBA OF ADEN 
201 
Uses and History : — From the leaves the well-known dye, called 
f henna/ is obtained. For this purpose the leaves are dried, sifted, a 
little sarson oil added and then reduced to a powder. It is occasionally 
used in dyeing cloth, but the principal value is as an article of the toilet, 
for staining the finger-nails, hands and feet a dull orange colour, also for 
dyeing the hair into a bright red colour. This is often but a first stage 
in the production of black by the action of indigo on the original red. 
The use of henna as a cosmetic dates from very ancient times, and is 
universal among Muhammadan women. The seeds yield an oil, about 
which little is known, and the flowers are employed in perfumery and 
embalming. (Watt.) 
The Hebrew name of the henna is f kopher.’ In the hieroglyphic 
language the flower is called f puqer'. In Coptic the shrub bears the 
name f khuper 3 * * * * * or f kuper *. Even in demotic textes we already find 
the name f kappa/ There is evidently some relationship between the 
Hebrew and Egyptian names ; but it is doubtful whether the Israelites 
have borrowed the name in the valley of the Nile, or whether the 
Egyptians received the plant with its name from the East. Archeolo- 
gists could not find the product before the Rameses dynasty, and the 
name itself occurs only in the Ptolemaic inscriptions. 1 From the dried 
leaves the Egyptians prepared an orange-red powder which they employed 
as a dye for the hands, feet, and nails, not only of living persons, but 
also of mummies. Fragments of leaves and powder of Lawsonia have, 
besides, been discovered in Egyptian tombs. According to Dioscorides 
and Pliny the Egyptians diluted the powder with the juice of Saponaria 
(soap-wort) and used it as a dye for the hair. 2 Henna entered also into 
the composition of the famous perfume, called ‘ kyphi/ which consisted 
of 16 different ingredients. 3 
Pliny says that the best kind of henna grows on the banks of the 
Nile ; the second best at ‘ Ascalon of Judea the third, and most sweet 
in odour, in f Cyprus , 9 from which its Greek name c cypros 3 was derived. 
1 Loret, V. La flore pharaonique, 2nd ed. Paris, 1892, page 80. 
2 Dioscorides. De mat. med. I, 124. 
Plinius. Historia nat. XXIII, 46. 
8 Theophrastus. Tib. de odoribus, 195. 
Plinius. 1. c. XIII, 51. 
Prosper Alpinus. De plantis Aegypti, XIII. 
Celsius. Hierobotanicon, vol. I, 122. 
Plutarchus. De Iside et Osiride. Cap. 80. 
Dumichen. Der Grabpalast des Patnamenap, pp. 20—25. 
Loret, Y. Le kyphi, parfum sacre des anciens Egyptiens. Paris, 1887. 
Loret, y . La flore pharaonique, pages 80 — 81. 
Loret, C. Les plantes dans Pantiquite. Paris, 1897, Volume I, pages 318 — 320. 
