The Senna Shrub.
Sena.
A little shrub, three or four feet high, native of the East. The trunk is covered with a whitish and rough bark; the leaves are composed each of three pair of smaller, disposed on a common rib, with an odd one at the end: they are oblong, narrow, and sharp pointed, of a smooth surface, a thick substance, of a pale green colour, and not indented at the edges. The flowers are like a pea blossom in shape, but they are yellow, marked with purple veins. The pods are short and flat, and the seeds are small and brown.
We have the dried leaves from the East, the druggists keep them. They are given in infusion, and are an excellent purge, but as they are apt to gripe in the working, the common method is to throw in a few cardamom seeds, or some other warm medicine into the water.
