Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various plants in the pea family, chiefly of the genera Senna and Chamaecrista, having pinnately compound leaves and showy, nearly regular, usually yellow flowers, used as ornamentals and for medicinal purposes.
  • noun A preparation of the dried leaves of Senna alexandrina, used as a laxative.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun countable Any of several plants of the tribe Cassieae, especially those of the genera Cassia and Senna, whose leaves and pods are used as a purgative and laxative.
  • noun uncountable The dried leaves or pods of these plants (especially of Cassia angustifolia or Cassia acutifolia) used medicinally.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin, from Arabic sanā; akin to Aramaic sanyā, a thorn-bush.]

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