Description

Sanay — senna leaf — represents the dried, separated leaflets of Cassia angustifolia, the Indian senna plant, traded as a distinct product from the pods (fruit) of the same plant. Native to Arabia and Somalia and cultivated extensively in the Tirunelveli region of Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, India is among the world’s largest producers of senna leaf. The leaflets contain sennosides A and B — anthraquinone glycosides that stimulate propulsive peristalsis of the large intestine through a prostaglandin-mediated mechanism. Documented in the Arab physician Al-Kindi’s ninth-century pharmacological works and in Ibn Sina’s Canon, senna leaf has been incorporated in Unani laxative formulations continuously for over a thousand years. Known in Ayurveda as Swarnapatri (golden-leafed herb) and listed in both the Ayurvedic and Unani Pharmacopoeias of India, it is also formally included in the British, European, Indian, and US Pharmacopoeias.