Categories
Herbs & Plants

Senna grandis

Botanical Name :Senna grandis
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Cassia
Species: C. grandis
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales

Common Names ; :Pink Shower Tree,Stinking Toe,Carao in Spanish

Habitat :Native to Central America. The species is distributed from southern México, to Venezuela and Ecuador. It grows in forests and open fields at lower elevations, and is known to be planted as an ornamental.

Description:

Cassia grandis is a large tree with a dense, umbrella-shaped canopy and smooth pale gray bark. The leaves are large and each of them is composed of about 16 pairs of leaflets.

The leaflets have two-toned coloration with green above and maroon below. During the tree short leafless period, between March and April, the tree produces abundant flowers in long axillary racemes. Their display pastel shades of pink and orange, covering the entire crown, since the name Pink Shower. Each flower has five large, lavender sepals and five rounded, peach colored petals, three large stamens and a long, curved pistil. The petals are not uniform in shape and the uppermost petal has a yellow patch in the end.

Fruits are produce from the long pistils as they begin to expand. First, they are visible as green strings dangling below foliage, than as they reach full size and begin to mature, they turn brown and start drying, becoming woody. Each fruit is about 40cm long and cylindrical in shape. Inside they have compartments with papery walls containing flattened, round, tan-colored seeds and large quantities of thick, strong smelling and dark colored honey-like substance with an unpleasant smell. The fruits persist on the tree all year.

The tree’s leaves are pinnate and deciduous, with 10-20 pairs of leaflets of 3-5 cm (1-2 in). During the dry season, the tree sheds its old leaves, giving way to racemes of pastel pink flowers. The long, wood-like fruit capsules reach lengths of up to 50 cm (20 in) and have many seeds, which are separated by resinous membranes that taste somewhat like carob.It is easily grown from seed and can reach a height of over 50 feet. Can be used as an indoor container plant…

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Medicinal Uses:
Dark juice of pod is taken as a tonic drink for anemia, tiredness, malaise—remove seeds from pods, strain juice and mix with 50% water or milk; drink 1 cup daily.  Juice of fresh leaves is applied to ringworm, fungus, or other skin problems.  For kidney complaints, water retention, backache, or biliousness, boil 3 small branches with leaves in 3 cups water for 10 minutes and drink in sips all day in place of water.  One half cup of fresh leaves infused in 3 cups water and consumed will serve as a diuretic and eliminate toxins from the body tissue.  An infusion of young leaves is used for diabetes.  For a mild laxative and blood tonic, boil ½ cup fresh leaves in 1 cup water for 2 minutes and drink.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassia_grandis
http://www.especiesseeds.com/servlet/the-770/Senna-grandis–dsh–Tropical/Detail
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_RST.htm
http://green-24.de/forum/ftopic14492.html

http://ntbg.org/plants/plant_details.php?plantid=2433

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