*7* ' CAS 
ceolate, fmootl;; a gland at the bafe of the petioles. Na¬ 
tive of South America. 
14. CafLia fiftula, or Alexandrian purging cafTia, caflia- 
ftick tree, or pudding-pipe tree: leaflets five pairs, ovate- 
acuminate, ftnooth, petioles without glands. This tree 
riles to the height of forty or fifty feet, with a large trunk, 
dividing into many branches. The flowers are produced 
in long fpikes at the end of the branches, each handing 
upon a pretty long peduncle ; they, are 0/ a deep yellow 
colour, and are lucceeded by cylindrical pods, from one to 
two feet long, having a dark-brown woody fhell, with a 
longitudinal feam on one fide, divided into many cells by 
tranfverfe partitions, each containing one or two oval, 
ftnooth, comp re fed, feeds, lodged in a fw-eetilh black 
pulp: this pulp is an ealy, gentle, laxative, opening the 
pafages without irritating the inteftines; but it grows ran¬ 
cid when it has been long out of the cells, and then acquires 
an acrimony that renders it precarious, and even danger¬ 
ous. Native of both Indies; cultivated in 1731 by Mr. 
Miller. 
15. Caflia aiomaria: leaflets five pairs, ovate, fubto- 
mentofe, petioles round, without glands. Stem the height 
of a man, woody, alh-coloured, very branching. Obferved 
in America by Jacquin. 
16. Caflia pilofa: leaflets four or five pairs, with very 
minute glands; ftipules femicordate, acuminate; hem ft iff, 
hairy, from one to two feet high. Native of Jamaica, 
flowering towards the end of the year. 
17. Caflia fenna, or Egyptian caflia or fenna : leaflets 
four to fix pairs, fubovate ; petioles without glands. The 
plant which produces the leaves commonly known in medi¬ 
cine by the name of fenna is annual, and rifes with an up¬ 
right branching ftalk, about at foot high ; the leaves are 
pinnate, and have four pairs of fmall (pear-fhaped leaflets, 
ending in acute points ; the flowers are yellow, and pro¬ 
duced in loofe bunches at the top of the ftalk. It grows 
naturally in Perfia, Syria, and Arabia, whence the leaves 
are brought, dried and picked from the ft.ilks, to Alex¬ 
andria in Egypt; and, being thence annually imported into 
Europe, it has tlie title Alexandria added to it. Thefe 
leaves are oblong, (harp-pointed at the ends, about a quar¬ 
ter of an inch broad, and not a full inch in length, of a 
lively yellowilh green colour, a faint but not very difagree- 
able fmell, and a fubacrid, ‘bit-tenfh, naufeous tafte. Some 
worfe forts are brought from Tripoli and other places, 
which maybe ealily diftinguiflied by being either maneuver, 
longer, and (harper pointed', or larger, broader, and round 
pointed, with fipall prominent veins, or large and obtufe, 
of a frei’n green colour, without any yellow caff. Mr. Mil¬ 
ler diftinguifltes that which is vulgarly called Italian fenna 
from this fpecifically, by its having five pairs of blunt 
leaflets. This is alfo an annual plant, rifingwith a branch¬ 
ing ftalk a foot and a half high. The leaves have five 
pairs of obcordate leaflets, of a fea-green colour, and a 
thick confidence. The flowers are larger, and of a brighter 
yellow colour. It grows naturally in India. Swartz de¬ 
scribes it as it is found on the coatl of the ifland of Jamaica, 
near Port-Royal ; where, however, it is not originally a 
native ; and he feems to doubt whether it be the genuine 
fenna: in having blunt leaflets it agrees with that which 
Miller fays he received from the Eaft-Indies. In theWeft- 
Indies the inhabitants make life of the leaves of feveral 
fpecies of caflia, inftead of the true fenna; and alfo of 
tlie poineiana, or flower-fence, which is frequently called 
there true fenna. The accurate Gasrtner, who difiin- 
guithes fenna from caflia generically, deferibes the legume 
ms ovate-reniform, membranaceous, leaiy-comprelfed, 10- 
rofe where the feeds are, marked with capillary, tranfverfe, 
parallel, (freaks, having from fix to nine cells, and two 
valves; partitions tranfverfe, very thin; feeds folitary, 
obcordate-obloYig, beaked, flattifh on both fides, towards 
the periphery declining to a fharp edge, wrinkled, pale 
alh-colour, with a pale linear mark, and above that a fmall 
fhining chefnut fpot on both fides. Senna is one of the 
in oft general purgatives in the materia inedica. For this 
S I A. 
purpofe it. is ufed in infufion, and is not unfrequenfly 
mixed with other fubftances,- as manna, &c. It is fuffici- 
ently efficacious, and operates without violence ; it is how¬ 
ever fometimes apt to excite tormina, and it has the dif¬ 
ad vantage of being naufeous to the tafte; but to remedy 
this inconvenience,-compofitions of various kinds are pre¬ 
pared in the (hops. Thus, for example; fix drachms of ta. 
marinds, and two of cryfials’of tartar, are boiled in a pint 
and a half of water till half a pint is wafted, and the drained 
Iiquorpoured, boiling hot,upon one, two,or three, drachms 
of fenna : after maceration for fourhours, the ft rained infu¬ 
fion is fweetened with an ounce of fyrup of violets, and fla¬ 
voured with half an ounce of Ample cinnamon water. Or 
three drachms of fenna are infilled in a quarter of a pint 
of boiling water for four hours, or till the liquor has grown 
-Cold, with theaddition of a fcruple of ginger; or with half 
a drachm of lelfer cardamum-leeds; hoiked, and three- 
fourths of a drachm of cryftals of tartar, which laftare pre- 
vioufly boiled in the water till diflblved; or with two 
drachms of frefh lemon-peel, and two drachms, by meafu ro¬ 
of lemon juice. This laff is confidered as the 1110ft agree¬ 
able form in which the infufion of (enna can be contrived. 
18. Caflia biflora, or two-flowered caflia: leaflets fix 
pairs, rather oblong, ftnooth, the lower ones fmaller, a 
fubulate gland between the lowed; pedicels two-flowered. 
This has the flowers yellow. It is a native of the Well- 
Indies; culivated in 1766, by Mr. James Gordon. 
19. Caflia rufcifolia: leaflets fix pairs, lanceolate, acute, 
fmootli; a gland above the bafe of the rib ; flowers ra- 
cemed. This is an elegant flirub, the height of a man. 
Seeds ovate, a little comprefled, finning, black,with hardly 
any pulp. Gathered on the rocks of Madeira; by Mallbn. 
20. Caflia hirfuta : leaflets fix pairs, broad-ovate, acu¬ 
minate, woolly. Native of America. The leaves have 
fix pairsof ovate-lanceolate feffile leaflets; both they and 
the petiole are covered on both fides with a white wool. 
21. Caflia multiglandulofa, or glandulous cafliah leaf¬ 
lets fix pairs, villole beneath and about the edges, obtufe; 
a gland between each pair of leaflets. This, alfo, is a 
flirub, the height of a man. Found by Mallbn, in the 
gardens o( Teneriffe, and introduced by him into England 
in 1779. It flowers here moll part of the fummer. 
22. Caflia tomentofa : leaflets fix or eight pairs, linear, 
obliquely rounded at the bafe, rough with hairs on the 
upper furface, panicles axillary, legumes villofe. This is 
a tree with round flexuofe branches, covered with a thick, 
foft, white, pile, which is yellow when they are dry. 
Flowers of a middling fize, pale yellow. Pods ftraight, 
comprelfed, very tomentole. It was found in South Ame¬ 
rica, by Minis.. 
23. Caflia ferpens: leaflets feven pairs; flowers pentan- 
drotis, ftems filiform, proftrate, herbaceous. Stems three 
or four inches long, Ample, fomewhat upright, but dc_ 
prelled at the bale. This is an annual plant, native of 
Jamaica, in dry paftures, creeping among the grafs. 
24. Caflia liguftrina, or privet-leaved Caflia : leaflets 
feven pairs, lanceolate, the outmoft fmaller, a gland at the 
bafeot the petioles. Stem fix or (even feet high, or more, 
the thicknefs of the little finger, (lightly angular, putting 
forth many deeply llriated branches, from top to bottom. 
Flowers many, terminating, yellow. The leaves aiid flow¬ 
ers have fomewhat of a foetid fmell. Native of the Illeof 
Providence, and other illands in the Weft-Indies. It was 
brought from the Bahama Illands in 1726, by Mr. Mark 
Catelby ; and flowered firft in. Sir Charles Wager’s, and 
the Chelfea garden. 
25. Caflia alata, or broad-leaved caflia : leaflets eight 
pairs, oval-oblong, the lowed: fmaller; petioles without 
glands; ftipules fpreading. Stein fubherbaceous, fix feet 
high and more, branched, upright, furrowed, fmootli, with 
Ample llriated branchesj leaves large, from one to two 
feet in length ; flowers large,- yellow ; feeds feparated by 
alternate membranaceous partitions, rhomboidul, com- 
prefled. It lives but a few years, though it puts on the 
appearance of a Ihrub in its growth 5 and, when cultivated, 
