senna

senna (SEN-uh) - n., any of several plants in the pea family, chiefly of the genus Senna (formerly part of Cassia), having pinnately compound leaves and showy, usually yellow flowers, used as ornamentals and for medicinal purposes; the dried leaflets or pods of various sennas, esp. the leaves of S. alexandrina, C. acutifolia, or S. obtusifolia, used as a purgative or a laxative.



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Used in both European and Eastern medicine. The name's been in English since around 1540, from Medieval Latin, from Arabic sanā.


And that's the end of 5x5s -- and next week, not another theme, but back to the usual mix.

---L.