Senna obtusifolia | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Caesalpinioideae |
Genus: | Senna |
Species: | S. obtusifolia |
Binomial name | |
Senna obtusifolia | |
Synonyms [2] | |
Senna obtusifolia, known by the common names Chinese senna, American sicklepod, sicklepod, etc., is a plant in the genus Senna , sometimes separated in the monotypic genus Diallobus. It grows wild in North, Central, and South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and is considered a particularly problematic weed in many places. It has a long-standing history of confusion with Senna tora and that taxon in many sources actually refers to the present species.
In the traditional medicine of Eastern Asia, the seeds are called jué míng zǐ in Chinese (simplified: 决明子; traditional: 決明子), gyeolmyeongja in Korean, and ketsumeishi in Japanese.
The green leaves of the plant are fermented to produce a high-protein food product called kawal which is eaten by many people in Sudan as a meat substitute. Its leaves, seeds, and root are also used in folk medicine, primarily in Asia. It is believed to possess a laxative effect, as well as to be beneficial for the eyes. As a folk remedy, the seeds are often roasted, then boiled in water to produce a tea. The plant's seeds are a commercial source of cassia gum, a food additive usually used as a thickener and named for the Chinese Senna's former placement in the genus Cassia . Roasted and ground, the seeds have also been used as a substitute for coffee. In vitro cultures of S. obtusifolia such as hairy roots may be a source of valuable secondary metabolites with medical applications. [3]
This species was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus who gave it the name Cassia obtusifolia in Species Plantarum . [4] [5] In 1979, Howard Samuel Irwin and Rupert Charles Barneby transferred the species to the genus Senna as S. obtusifolia in the Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden . [6] [7] The specific epithet (obtusifolia) means "blunt-leaved". [8]
S. obtusifolia is known by a number of common names. Apart from "sicklepod", [9] sickle-pod senna, [10] rarely "Chinese senna" [11] or even "American sicklepod", [12] it is also called arsenic weed, [13] foetid cassia, or wild senna. [10]
It is also known locally by common names such as "coffee weed" (coffeeweed) [14] or "java bean" (in Australia) [14] or "coffee pod" (in the American South or West), [15] [13] although the terms "coffee weed" or "coffee pod" are ambiguous as they also apply to S. tora. [9] It may be called by the Hindi name "chakunda" in India, but this is also one of the names for S. tora. [9]
Names in its native range are also:
Senna obtusifolia is endemic to Central America and South America, but is naturalised in North America, Africa, parts of Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, parts of Southeast Asia, New Guinea and parts of Australia. [2] In its natural environment, it grows on the shores of lakes and rivers, but is also a weed of pastures and roadsides at altitudes up to 1,100 m (3,600 ft). [7]
The materia medica name for the seeds in Chinese is jué míng zǐ (simplified: 决明子; traditional: 決明子). [19] The medicinal seeds are also known by the equivalent Korean name gyeolmyeongja (결명자;決明子) in traditional Korean medicine, [20] and by the Japanese name ketsumei-shi (ケツメイシ, 決明子) in kampō medicine. [21]
The jue ming zi is used widely in Asia, including Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, [21] [22] and its herbal tea is drunk instead of regular tea as a preventative for hypertension. [21] [22] It is also purported to have the ability to clear the eye. [21] In Korea also, medicinal gyeolmyeongja is usually prepared as tea ( gyeolmyeongja-cha . ‘sickle pod tea’).
Senna tora (Cassia tora) is used similarly, and though distinguished in the Chinese market as the "little/lesser" variety or shao jue ming小決明) [22] the Japanese government's [pharmacopoeia] (Nihon yakkyokuhō) officially acknowledges both S. obtusifolia and S. tora to be commerced as ketsumeishi. [22]
The Japanese beverage habu-cha (ハブ茶), as the name suggests, was originally brewed from the seeds of the habusō or S. occidentalis , but currently marketed habu-cha uses S. obtusifolia as substitute, since it is a higher-yielding crop. [23] [24]
The antimicrobial activity of leaf extracts of Senna obtusifolia have been studied. [25]
Kawal, a protein-rich meat substitute eaten in Sudan, is produced by crushing the leaves of the plant into a paste which is then traditionally fermented in an earthenware jar, buried in a cool place. The jar is dug up every three days and the contents mixed. After two weeks, the paste is removed and rolled into balls which are left to dry in the sun. They are usually cooked in stews with onions and okra. [26] [27]
Cassia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, and the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Species are known commonly as cassias. The genus includes 37 species and has a pantropical distribution. Species of the genera Senna and Chamaecrista were previously included in Cassia. Cassia now generally includes the largest species of the legume subtribe Cassiinae, usually mid-sized to tall trees.
Shennong (神農), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian (姜石年), was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion. He is venerated as a culture hero in China and Vietnam. In Vietnamese, he is referred to as Thần Nông.
Cassia typically refers to cassia bark, the spice made from the bark of East Asian evergreen trees.
Cassia gum is the flour and food additives made from the endosperms of the seeds of Senna obtusifolia and Senna tora. It is composed of at least 75% polysaccharide, primarily galactomannan with a mannose:galactose ratio of 5:1, resulting in a high molecular mass of 200,000-300,000 Da.
Schisandra chinensis, whose fruit is called magnolia berry or five-flavor fruit, is a vine plant native to forests of Northern China, the Russian Far East and Korea. Wild varieties are also found in Japan. It is hardy in USDA Zone 4. The fruits are red berries in dense clusters around 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long.
The name coffeeweed or coffee weed may refer to various plants used as coffee substitutes, including:
Senna tora is a plant species in the family Fabaceae and the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Its name is derived from its Sinhala name tora (තෝර). It grows wild in most of the tropics and is considered a weed in many places. Its native range is in Central America. Its most common English name is sickle senna or sickle wild sensitive-plant. Other common names include sickle pod, tora, coffee pod and foetid cassia. It is often confused with Chinese senna or sickle pod, Senna obtusifolia.
A cereal coffee is a hot drink made from one or more cereal grains roasted and commercially processed into crystal or powder form to be reconstituted later in hot water. The product is often marketed as a caffeine-free alternative to coffee and tea, or in other cases where those drinks are scarce or expensive.
Senna, the sennas, is a large genus of flowering plants in the legume family. This diverse genus is native throughout the tropics, with a small number of species in temperate regions. The number of species is estimated to be from about 260 to 350. The type species for the genus is Senna alexandrina. About 50 species of Senna are known in cultivation.
The Four Pillars of Destiny, as known as "Ba-Zi", which means "eight characters" or "eight words" in Chinese, is a Chinese astrological concept that a person's destiny or fate can be divined by the two sexagenary cycle characters assigned to their birth year, month, day, and hour. This type of cosmological astrology is also widely used in South Korea, Japan and Vietnam.
Emodin (6-methyl-1,3,8-trihydroxyanthraquinone) is a chemical compound, of the anthraquinone family, that can be isolated from rhubarb, buckthorn, and Japanese knotweed. Emodin is particularly abundant in the roots of the Chinese rhubarb, knotweed and knotgrass as well as Hawaii ‘au‘auko‘i cassia seeds or coffee weed. It is specifically isolated from Rheum palmatum L. It is also produced by many species of fungi, including members of the genera Aspergillus, Pyrenochaeta, and Pestalotiopsis, inter alia. The common name is derived from Rheum emodi, a taxonomic synonym of Rheum australe, and synonyms include emodol, frangula emodin, rheum emodin, 3-methyl-1,6,8-trihydroxyanthraquinone, Schüttgelb (Schuttgelb), and Persian Berry Lake.
Senna alata is an important medicinal tree, as well as an ornamental flowering plant in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It also known as emperor's candlesticks, candle bush, candelabra bush, Christmas candles, empress candle plant, ringworm shrub, or candletree. A remarkable species of Senna, it was sometimes separated in its own genus, Herpetica.
Senna auriculata is a leguminous tree in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is commonly known by its local names matura tea tree, avaram or ranawara, or the English version avaram senna. It is the State flower of Indian state of Telangana. It occurs in the dry regions of India and Sri Lanka. It is common along the sea coast and the dry zone in Sri Lanka.
Semen cassiae is the apothecary's name for the seeds of two species of plant used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and may refer to:
Senna occidentalis, commonly known as coffee senna, styptic weed, or septicweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is native to India, the southern United States of America, Mexico and South America. It is a shrub with pinnate leaves, with three to seven pairs of broadly elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of two to four, with six fertile stamens in each flower. It is an aggressive, pantropical weed.
Senna siamea, also known as Siamese cassia, kassod tree, cassod tree and cassia tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown.
Gyeolmyeongja-cha or sicklepod tea is a tea made from roasted seeds of Senna spp., especially S. obtusifolia and S. tora.
Senna pendula, also known as Easter Cassia, Christmas Senna, winter Senna, climbing Cassia, golden shower, pendant Senna and valamuerto, is a plant of the Fabaceae family with a shrub habit that is native to South America. It used in various parts of the world as an ornamental plant and is an environmental weed in Australia. The flowers are yellow and the name pendula means 'pendulous' or 'drooping'.
Senna multijuga, commonly known as November shower or false sicklepod, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to wet tropical areas of Latin America, and widely introduced to other tropical locales such as Africa, India, Indonesia, China, Australia, and Hawaii. A fast-growing tree typically 10 m (33 ft) tall, it is planted in restoration projects, as an ornamental, and as a street tree, being especially useful under power lines.
Kawal is food made of fermented leaves used as a meat substitute indigenous to western Sudan, in particular the Kordofan and Darfur provinces, and eastern Chad. In urban areas, it is used as a condiment, similarly to black pepper. It is also used by low-income families as a primary protein source, substituting or extending meat or fish in stews and sauces. It is created from the fermented leaves of Cassia obtusifolia, a toxic wild legume also known as the kawal plant.
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