Cafe De Senna

COFFEE SENNA

Scientific Name:
Cassia occidentalis L.

Synonyms:
Senna occidentalis (L) Link, Cassia caroliniana Walter, Cassia ciliata Raf., Cassia falcata L., Cassia foetida Pers.,Cassia frutescens Mill., Cassia geminiflora Schrank, Cassia linearis Michx, Cassia longisiliqua L.F., Cassia obliquifolia Schrank, Cassia planisiliqua L., Cassia sopera L., Ditremexa occidentalis (L.)Britton & Rose ex Britton & P. Wilson, Senna occidentalis (L.) Roxb (Missouri Botanical Garden, 2006).

Common Names:
Coffee senna, ant bush, antbush, arsenic bush, negro coffee, Nigeriansenna, septicweed, sickle pod, stink weed, stinking pea, stinking weed, stinkingweed, stinkweed, styptic weed.
Used parts:
Leaves
Toasted Seeds.

Traditional Uses:
The toasted seeds havefebrifuge, emmenagogue and stomachic activities; besides its benefits as a diuretic, the toasted seeds are also used to treat indigestion, dyspepsia and prostate diseases. Non-toasted seeds are usedas a purgative and when it is turned into a cataplasm or poultice is wonderful for the treatment of edema and different kinds of skin diseases. Its infusion is administered to treat asthma andfever. Externally, seeds are used for the treatment of scabies in the head and in case of bumps or bruises. (Bernal H. y col., 1990; Girón L. y col., 1991; Girach R. y col., 1994).

Major Constituents:Inside the seeds there are lipids, carotenoids, tocopherols, amino acids, carbohydrates, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, mucilages and fine oils. Moreover, they contain queen, aloe-emodin,crisofanol, galactomananos and toxoalbúmina, xantona (casiolina), ß-sitosterol, derived from 1,4,5-trihidroxiantraquinona (Islandicina, helmintosporina, xantorina) and fitostertina.(Kudav N. y col., 1974;Aminco A., 1977; Cáceres A., 1996).

Pharmacological Activity:
Numerous studies have been done about the antimicrobial activity (antibacterial and antifungal) in some extracts of different parts of...