401 
LAWSONIA, 
fremity of the benches, in long and tufted bouquets; 
the fmaller ramifications which fupport them are red, and 
Iikewife oppofite ; from their arm-pit cavity fprings a 
fmall leaf, almoft round, but terminating in a point; the 
corolla is formed of four petals curling up, and of a light 
yellow; between each petal are two white ftamina with a 
yellow fummit ; there is only one white piitil; the pedi¬ 
cle reddith at its iffuing from the bough, dies away in a 
faint green ; the calyx is cut into four pieces, of a ten¬ 
der green up towards their extremity, which is reddith 5 
the fruit, or berry, is a green capfule previous to its ma¬ 
turity ; it affumes a red tint as it ripens, and becomes 
brown when it is dried. It is divided into four compart¬ 
ments in which are enclofed the feeds, which are triangu¬ 
lar and brown. The bark of the Item and of the branches 
is of a deep grey and the wood has internally a light call 
of yellow. This thrub had at firft been confidered as a 
fpecies of privet, Lyguilmm vulgare, Linn, to which it 
lias, in truth, many relations; but differences in the parts 
of fructification determined botanifts to make a diftinct 
genus of it, to which Linnaeus gave the name of Lawfo- 
nia, and which now contains four fpecies. Its Arabic 
name is henne, or hanna ; and, with the article, el-heme, 
or d-hanna ; in Turkey they call it hanna or al-kanna. 
Though figures of it had been publifhed in feveral books 
on natural hiftory, it had not been faithfully reprefented 
till the appearance of Sonnini’s Travels in Egypt. This 
author informs us, that the al-henna is a plant moft 
grateful to both the fight and the fmell. The dark- 
grey colour of its bark, the light-green of its foliage, 
the foftened mixture of white and yellow, with which the 
flowers, collected into long clufters like the lilach, are 
coloured ; the red tint of the ramifications which fupport 
them; form a combination of the moft agreeable effeCt. 
The henna grows in great quantities in the vicinity of 
Rofetta, and conftitutes one of the principal ornaments 
of the beautiful gardens which furround that city. Its 
root, which penetrates to a great depth with the utmoft 
eafe, fwells to a large fize, in a foil, foft, rich, mixed 
with fand, and fuch as every hufbandman would with to 
have to work upon ; the thrub of courfe acquires a more 
vigorous growth there than any-where elfe; it is, at the 
fame time, more extenfively multiplied : it grows, howe¬ 
ver, in all the other cultivated diftriCts of Egypt, and 
principally in the upper part. There is much reafon to 
believe that the henna of Egypt is the kupros of the an¬ 
cient Greeks. The defcriptions which authors have given 
of it leave fcarcely any doubt refpeCting the identity of 
thefe two plants. The name of kupros is no longer in ufe 
among the modern Greeks ; they give to the henna the 
corrupted denomination of kene, kna, &c. The feamen 
of Provence, whofe veffels are employed in the carriage of 
of the powder of henna, call it queue. 
It is not at all aftonithing, that a flower fo delicious 
Ihould have furnithed to oriental poefy agreeable allufions 
and amorous companions. This may afford an anfwer to 
part of the forty-fifth queftion of Michaelis; for the flow¬ 
ers of henna are difpofed in clufters; and the women of 
Egypt, who love the fmell of it, are fond of carrying it, 
in°the fpot where the text indicates, (Songi. 13.) in their 
bofoms. Relative to the farther ufes to which it is ap¬ 
plied, Sonnini proceeds thus : “If large black eves, which 
they are at pains to darken ftill more, be effential to Egyp¬ 
tian female beauty, it Iikewife requires, as an acceffory 
of firft-rate importance, that the hands and nails fliould 
be dyed yellow. This laft fafhion is fully as general as 
the other; and not to conform to it would be reckoned 
indecent: the women could no more difpenfe with this 
daubing than with their clothes. Of whatever condition, 
of whatever religion, they may be, all employ the fame 
means to acquire this fpecies of ornament, u'hicii the em¬ 
pire of fafhion alone could perpetuate; for it affuredly 
fpoils fine hands much more than it decorates them. The 
animated whitenefs of the palm of the handj the tender 
V01.. XII. No. 839. 
rofe-colour of the nails, are effaced by a dingy layer of a 
reddifh or orange-coloured drug. The foie of the foot, 
the epidermis of which is not hardened'by long and fre¬ 
quent walking, and which daily friCtion makes ftiil thin¬ 
ner, is Iikewife loaded with the fame colour. It is with 
the greenifh powder of the dried leaves of the henna, that 
the women procure for themlelves a decoration fo whim- 
fical. It is prepared chiefly in the Said, whence it is dif- 
tributed over all the cities of Egypt. The markets are 
conftantly fupplied with it, as a commodity of habitual 
and indifpenfable ufe. They dilute it in water, and rub 
the foft pafte it makes on the parts which they mean to 
colour: they are wrapped up in iinen, and at the end of 
two or three hours the orange hue is ftrongly impreffed 
on them. Though the women wa(h both hands and feet 
feveral times a-day, with lukewarm water and foap, this 
colour adheres for a long time, and it is fufficient to re¬ 
new the application about once a-fortnight; but that of 
the nails lafts much longer ; nay, it is reckoned to be in¬ 
delibly fixed. In Turkey, Iikewife, the women make ufe 
of henna, but apply it to the nails only, and leave to their 
hands and feet the colour of nature. It would appear, 
that the cuftom of dying nails was known to the ancient 
Egyptians, for thofe of mummies are, moft commonly, of a 
reddilh hue. (See Memoir on Embalmment, by M. de Cay- 
lus, in the Mem. of the Acad, of Infer, vol. xxiii. p. 133.) 
But the Egyptian ladies refine ftill farther on the general 
practice; for they fometimes paint their fingers fpace by 
fpace only; and, in order that the colour may not lay 
hold of the whole, they wrap them round with thread at 
the propofed diftances, before the application of the co¬ 
lour-giving pafte ; fo that, when the operation is finifhed, 
they have the fingers marked circularly, from end to end, 
with fmall orange-coloured belts- Others (and this prac¬ 
tice is more common among certain Syrian dames) choofe 
that their hands fliould prefent the fufficiently-difagree- 
able mixture of black and white. The belts which the 
henna had firft reddened become of a ftiining black by 
rubbing them with a compofition of fal-ammoniac, lime, 
and honey. You fometimes meet with men Iikewife who 
apply tinflure of henna to their beards, and anoint the 
head with it j they allege, that it ftrengthens the organs, 
that it prevents the falling-off of the hair and beard, and 
baniflies vermin.” This fhrub is reprefented on the an¬ 
nexed Plate, with the flowers of the natural fize. Sonnini's 
Travels in Egypt , vol. i. p. 264. & feq. 
2. Lawfonia achronychia, or long-petioled lawfonia: 
branches unarmed ; leaves on long petioles, wedge-lhaped. 
This differs from the preceding in having the leaves on 
long petioles, fomewhat jointed at the infertion ; the calyx 
extremely fmall; the petals not flat and ovate, but linear, 
and having bent claws- From this latter circumftance 
Forfter gave it the name of Acronychia, from aygoq, extremus, 
and oiiv%, unguis. But it does not feem to have any cha¬ 
racter to diltinguifli it from Lawfonia. Native of New 
Caledonia; where it was found the nth of September, 
I 744 - 
3. Lawfonia fpinofa, or prickly lawfonia: branches 
fpiny. This rifes with a woody trunk eighteen feet high 
or more. The wood is hard and clofe, covered with a 
light-grey bark. Branches alternate. Leaves oblong, 
oval. At the joints where the leaves are placed come out 
Angle, ftrong, fharp thorns. Flowers in loofe bunches 
from the fides of the branches, pale yellow, of a difagree- 
able feent. Loureiro deferibes it as only eight feet high, 
with few long fpreading branches, having a few ftraight 
fpines terminating the fhocts. Leaves broad-lanceolate, 
quite entire, feffile, oppofite, fubtomentofe, fmall. Lin¬ 
naeus and Loureiro call the fruit a caplule; Gaertner names 
it a dry berry, globular flatted a little at top, crowned by 
the ftyle, obfeurely four-grooved, fomewhat coriaceous, 
honey or ochre coloured, four-celled; feeds in each cell 
five to nine, varioully angular, fliarply pyramidal, ferru¬ 
ginous. Native of the Eatt Indies. Mr. Miller, who cul«, 
5 K tiysised 
