Lawsonia inermis L.
മൈലാഞ്ചി
| Family: | LYTHRACEAE |
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| Sub-Family: | Not available | ||||
| English Name: | Henna Plant | ||||
| Synonym: | Lawsonia alba Lam. | ||||
| Common Name: | Pontalasi, Samphire | ||||
| Flowering & Fruiting Period: | December - May | ||||
| Distribution: | Central Asia and India | ||||
| Habitat: | Grown as hedge plant | ||||
| Uses: | Henna a well-known ethnomedicinal plant used cosmetically and medicinally in the Indian traditional folk medicines for thousand years. Root is used as abortifacient, to treat leprosy, skin diseases, dysmenorrhoea and premature greying of hair. The leaves are used as an astringent or as a prophylactic against skin diseases and the bark is useful in the treatment of jaundice, enlargement of the spleen, calculus affection and skin diseases. The leaves of the henna plant are the source of red-brown dye widely used for body art. The paste of ground leaves has been used to colour skin, hair, fingernails, leather, silk and wool. The flowers and fruits are used in perfumery. | ||||
| Key Characteristics: | Woody shrubs; bark ashy grey or brown, smooth, branchlets ending in spines. Leaves elliptic or oblong. Flowers in terminal cymose panicles. Flowers sweet-scented, creamy white. Calyx tube cupular; lobes 4. Petals 4, orbicular or obovate. Stamens 8; filaments inflexed in bud. Ovary globose, 4-celled. Fruit purplish green, globose, dehiscing irregularly. | ||||