senna
(ˈsɛnə)
Also 6–8 sena.
[mod.L. senna, sena, a. Arab. sanā; cf. sene n.4]
1. Bot. A shrub of the genus Cassia, native in tropical regions, bearing yellow flowers and flat greenish pods. Cf. cassia.
American, Wild, or Maryland senna, Cassia marilandica.
| 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. Interpr., Sena hath lytle braunches, and the leafe of fenugreke [etc.]. 1601 Chester Loves Martyr (1878) 84 Mugwort, Sena and Tithimailes [etc.]. 1782 J. Scott Poet. Wks. 261 In vain the senna waves its glossy gold. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 92 The best senna, named in Nubia guebelly, or sena mekki, grows wild, and yields two crops of leaves, the abundance of which depends on the periodical rains. 1847 Darlington Amer. Weeds (1860) 109 Maryland Cassia. Wild, or American Senna. |
b. Applied with defining word to shrubs of other genera which have similar medicinal properties; as
bastard senna = next;
bladder senna,
Colutea arborescens, see
bladder n. 10;
Chile senna,
Myoschilos oblongus;
scorpion senna,
Coronilla Emerus, see
scorpion 8 c;
wild senna,
Poinciana pulcherrima or
Globularia Alypum, formerly
† the genus
Colutea.
| 1705 Dale Pharmacol. Suppl. 318 Colutea... Bastard Sena. 1750 G. Hughes Barbados 204 The Wild Sena, or the Wild Cassia Fistula; Lat. Colutea. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Senna, Wild Senna, Poinciana pulcherrima; also an American name for Cassia marilandica. 1874 Ibid. Suppl., Chili Senna, Myoschilos oblongus. |
2. Pharm. The dried leaflets of various species of
Cassia, used as a cathartic and emetic.
| 1571 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) 363, ½ a lb ½ a qn of sen'a xx{supd}. a 1618 Rates Marchandizes F 4, Druggs...Sena the pound xviij.d. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 29, I shall hate you as bad as senna and valerian. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 91 The Senna of the shops consists, according to M. Delile, of Cassia acutifolia, Cassia Senna, and Cynanchum Argel. 1880 J. W. Legg Bile 172 Senna was found by Röhrig to have an active effect on the secretion of bile. |
b. The many varieties of the drug are commercially distinguished by defining words (now often used loosely), as
Alexandrian senna,
Aleppo senna,
Arabian senna,
Indian senna,
Tinnevelly, etc., senna.
| 1693 Dale Pharmacol. 502 Senna Alexandrina Offic... Alexandrian Sena. 1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Senna, Alexandrine, ægyptian, Syriac. 1845 Encycl. Metrop. VII. 508/1 The Tinnevelly Senna consists of the leaflets of Cassia Elongata. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 527 Bladder-Senna.—The leaflets have been used on the continent to adulterate Alexandrian Senna. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
senna leaf,
senna leaflet,
senna shrub;
senna-draught,
-tea, an infusion of the drug taken as a purgative.
| 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 190 A dose of calomel..followed by a *senna draught in the morning. |
| 1699 Garth Dispens. v. 103 A Folliage of dissembl'd *Senna Leaves Grav'd round its Brim. |
| 1887 Bentley Man. Bot. (ed. 5) 532 They are at once distinguished from *Senna leaflets by their regularity at the base. |
| 1766 Stork Acc. E. Florida 48 The vines, the *senna shrub, sarsaparilla, China-root,..are indigenous plants of East-Florida. |
| 1753 Chesterfield Lett. to Son (1774) II. lxxiv. 307 Chewing a little rhubarb, when you go to bed at night, or some *senna-tea in the morning. |