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SENNA
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Senna is any herb, shrub, or tree of the genus Cassia in the pulse family, Leguminosae, order Rosales; the name is also applied to any of several cathartic drugs derived especially from the leaves. The dried leaves of Cassia acutifolia (Alexandria senna) and C. angustifolia (Indian senna) are utilized for purgatives. Both species are cultivated in southern India. Wild senna, C. marilandica, a native of the eastern United States, has also been used for its purgative properties. The cathartic canafistula is extracted from the fruit pulp of C. fistula, the golden-shower tree of India. C. nictitans, the wild sensitive plant, is an herb of North America whose sensitive leaflets rapidly respond to touch by drooping, a reaction similar to that of the true sensitive plant, the mimosa. The seeds of some species are used as a coffee substitute.
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