Henna

Scientific Name :

Lawsonia inermis L.

Synonym(s) :

Lawsonia alba Lam.

Local/Common name(s) :

Mylanchi, Henna

Family :

Lythraceae

Habit :

Shrubs

Flowering/Fruiting Time :

December-May

Habitat :

Grown as hedge plant

Endemic :

No

Status (IUCN) :

Least Concern (LC)

Distribution :

Central Asia and India

Nativity :

Indigenous

Uses :

Ornamental, Medicine

Description (Morphology) :

Woody shrubs; bark ashy grey or brown, smooth, branchlets ending in spines. Leaves 2.5-4.5 x 1-2 cm, elliptic or oblong to oblanceolate, base attenuate, apex acute or rounded, subsessile. Flowers in terminal cymose panicles; pedicels 2-4 mm long. Flowers sweet-scented, creamy white, 4-merous. Calyx tube c. 2 mm long, cupular; lobes 4, 2-3 mm long. Petals 4, 3-4 mm long, orbicular or obovate. Stamens 8; filaments 4-5 mm long, inflexed in bud. Ovary globose, 4-celled. Fruit purplish green, 4-6 x 5-7 mm, globose, dehiscing irregularly. Seeds c. 2.5 mm long.