SPECIES OP CASSIA WHICH YIELD SENNA. 269 
have paid any particular attention to the subject. We are 
therefore still left in a measure to conjecture. The plant 
yielding Indian Senna was for a long time confounded with 
the first of which we have treated. Delile suggested that it 
is the one alluded to by Forskall under the title of lanceo- 
lata; we have however shown reason for supposing that this 
is his own plant, the C. acutifolia, and our opinion is substantia- 
ted by the authority of Decandolle. Delile was led to be- 
lieve that the lanceolata of Forskall, was the Indian Senna, 
from his having procured some of the latter from Arabia, and 
finding it different, concluded that it had been mistaken for the 
Alexandrian. Now the description of Forskall and the re- 
marks connected with it which were quoted entire, are strong 
evidence in favour of the opinion that two kinds were known 
to him, viz. lanceolata and another specified in the following 
words. u Senna Meccae Lohaiae inveniebatur foliis 5-9 jugis 
lineari lanceolatis" which distinction does not seem to have 
been appreciated by Delile. From the approximation to the 
descriptions alluded to hereafter, it is extremely probable that 
this latter is the Indian variety. Forskall, moreover, pene- 
trated into Arabia by way of Egypt, so that his mind in the 
first instance must have been impressed with the characters 
of the Alexandrian article. M. Limaire Lisancour in the 
year 1821 — proposed the specific name elongata for the In- 
dian Senna, {Journal de Pharmacie) from the elongated shape 
of its leaflets. It had been noticed by Lemery and Poiret, 
who termed it Sene de la pique; and in Arabic, it had been 
known by the designation Sena lessam as/our, meaning 
bird's tongue, {lingua avis.) M. Fee has given a full descrip- 
tion of the Indian Senna, and has adopted the name elongata, 
{Journal de Chemie Med.;) the account has been introduced 
into a former number of this Journal, and it is only necessary 
to refer to it in this place. The characters detailed by the 
above author strengthen the impression of its being the second 
variety of Forskall. 
Decandolle has apparently the same plant in view under 
the specific name of C. ligustrinoides, which he states is con- 
founded in the shops with the C. lanceolata. 
