American senna

Simple constipation with dry, hard stool and no acute inflammation, when a reliable stimulant laxative is wanted

Short courses for occasional constipation where gentler bulk laxatives have failed

Overview. Wild senna, or American senna, is a native North American perennial of the pea family found through the eastern and central United States, historically gathered for its leaflets, which were used much like the Old World sennas as a dependable cathartic. Eclectic physicians valued it as a domestic substitute for imported Alexandrian and Tinnevelly senna, considering it milder in griping but still effective. The dried leaflets are the part used, prepared as an infusion, tincture, or powdered extract.

Clinical Notes. Wild senna behaves clinically much like its Old World relatives (Senna alexandrina), since it shares the same class of anthraquinone glycosides responsible for stimulant laxative action. Practitioners reach for it when a short course of reliable, predictable purgation is needed, for example ahead of a procedure, or for a few days of occasional constipation that has not responded to dietary fiber and hydration.

Description. "Cylindrical, 40 to 60 Cm. (16 to 24 inches) long, nearly 25 Mm. (1 inch) in diameter, blackish-brown, somewhat veined, the sutures smooth, forming two longitudinal bands; indehiscent, internally divided transversely into numerous cells, each containing a reddish-brown, glossy, flattish-ovate seed imbedded in a blackish-brown sweet pulp; odor resembling that of prunes" ... (U.S. P.).

History. Purging cassia inhabits Egypt and the Indies, and has become extensively diffused in various tropical countries, as China, Hindustan, West Indies, Brazil, etc. The part used in medicine is the fruit or pods, and those are to be preferred which are heavy and new, and do not, when shaken, make a rattling noise from the seeds being loose within them.