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Senna alexandrina
Also called East Indian senna, Egyptian senna, Tinnevelly senna, Indian Senna, True Senna, Senna
Alexandrian senna is a shrub or small tree of the pea family grown mainly as a medicinal herb, with leaves and pods used as a laxative. It needs a hot, dry, sunny site and well-drained soil.
Senna alexandrina (Alexandrian senna, in Arabic عشرج or عشرق or سنامكي and see below) is an ornamental plant in the genus Senna. It is used in herbalism. It grows natively in upper Egypt, especially in the Nubian region, and near Khartoum (Sudan), where it is cultivated commercially. It is also grown elsewhere, notably in India and Somalia.
Not native to the USSR, it was farmed in southern Kazakhstan for medicine.
When cultivated as medicinal herb, the plants are cut down semi-annually, dried in the sun, stripped and packed in palm-leaf bags. They are then sent on camels to Essouan and Darao, then down the Nile to Cairo or else to Red Sea ports. Trade in senna provides a significant source of income for the nomadic Ababda.
Emperor's candlesticks · Silver senna · Matara Tea · Christmasbush · Argentine senna · African senna · American senna · Port Royal senna · False sicklepod · Java-bean · Senna odorata · Valamuerto
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Senna alexandrina by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
