1162

ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

imagined that Dioscorides and Galen , and probably even Theophr^were acquainted with senna; but their known writings do not " ar ?pj )ethis opinion, and hence the quotation is presumed to be erroneous. _ .

earliest Greek writer, in whose works senna is mentioned, is Actual 11 ’but he, like the Arabians , referred to the fruit. re

Botany. Gen. Char. — Sepals five, scarcely united at the bast’)or less unequal. Petals five, unequal. Stamens ten, free, unequal »three lower ones longer, the four middle ones short and straight, the t

ones with abortive anthers. Anthers dehiscing at the ap -

upper

or

Ovary stalked, frequently arched. Legume various.— Trees, shrubs ■.herbs. Leaves simply and abruptly pinnate. Petioles frequently gl a11liferous. Leaflets opposite. t j lC

Species. —Some confusion still exists as to the species yieldingsenna leaves of commerce. Linnaeus made but one species, whic 1 ^termed Cassia Senna, and considered the acute and obtuse-leaved P' aI 1 ^i, emere varieties. This error has been adopted by the Dublin College , 3usually-accurate Woodville [Med. Bot. vol. iii. p. 440) has publish 6 ^plate representing the leaflets of the acute-leaved Cassia, and the In 1the blunt-leaved species. The following perhaps are distinct S P.but their specific characters are not in all cases accurately ascertain1 . C. obova'ta, Colladon , Hist, des Casses, 92. C. Senna var.p.y._,C. obtusa, Roxb. FI. Ind. ii. 344. Sena belledy (Wild Senna) Eflfr 1 !and Nubians . Sene de la Theba'ide; Cassia Sena, Nectoux, 1 ’'Leaflets six to seven pairs, obovate, obtuse ; petiole glandless. ea chpiano-compressed, curved, tumid by the crests on the middle oi e ^.valve (D. C.)—Perennial herb, one to two feet high. Leaves cnl00leaflets mucronate, unequal at the base. Stipules lanceolate

si»o°

lineal

spreading. Flowers yellow in racemes. Legumes oblong, falcate, sB 1 Pj ( nerounded at each end, with an equally interrupted ridge along the u ) 1of each valve.—Egypt (Bassa-Tine at the entrance of the valley ofmont, two leagues from Cairo; Kamak ; Thebes ; on the eastern ,of the Nile opposite Hermonthis; Esneh; Edfou ; Daraou; Ass° .Nubia; Desert of Suez; Syria; India. Cultivated in Italy , jJamaica, &c.—Its leaflets form Aleppo, Senegal , and Italic Senna,one of the constituents of Alexandrian Senna.

Nees and Ebermaier (Handb. d. Med. Pharm. Bot. ii. 207) follow Hayue, rn a ; n tedtwo species of blunt senna, viz. C. obovata, Hayne, with obovate very shortly I - lia tcleaflets, and C. obtusata, Hayne, with more remote, obovate, truncated, era a B 0 jjcrleaflets. I think, with Th. Martius, ( Pharmakogn .) that the latter are mere yleaflets than the former.

2 . C. acutifo'lia, Delile, FI. FEgypt. PI. 27, fig. 1 .—Stem suffrutic 1 ^Leaves pinnate; petiole glandless; leaflets five to seven pairs, 6 Jlt o"acute. Legumes flat, elliptical, naked on both sides, somewhat

the upper margin (Delile).—An under shrub, about two feet high. -\\^rs rwhen young slightly silky or pubescent. Flowers yellow, in aX gonl e'racemes, at the top of the branches. Petals obovate. Z^w®*** pt,what swollen by the seeds. Seeds six or seven in each legu®e.-r^ tedin the valleys of the desert to the south and east of Assouan.—C . ^by the Arabs , and sold by them to merchants who convey it to Cai .

3. C. elonga'ta, Lemaire-Lisancourt, Journ. de Pharm. y 1 ' 37 .

Fee, Journ. de Chim. Med. vi. 234 ; C. lanceolata, Royle Illustr- .Perhaps identical with the preceding species. T ^" sue

ith,

Dr. Boyle’s speci®