Coffee senna (Cassia occidentalis) is a short-lived perennial shrub. In this article we will review the uses of coffee senna in Ayurveda and the health benefits of coffee senna. So, read on until the end of the article until you find the many benefits of the coffee senna plant, even though this plant is considered a weed in some countries and a plant that needs to be eradicated such as in Australia, Oceania etc.
About Coffee Senna
Coffee senna has been known as a plant that has medicinal value and is considered important in the world of traditional medicine. Even modern medicine has also found important benefits from a plant by the name of Cassia occidentalis (coffee senna). Now coffee senna is an important herb that is often consumed in several countries such as Africa, Brazil, Central America, Mexico and several other countries.
Now, along with the development of health science, the coffee senna plant is known to have important benefits. Among the health benefits of coffee senna are as an expectorant, stomachic, a liver tonic and as a blood purifier. The content of various chemicals, and its wide use in the community, makes the senna coffee plant considered a plant that has great health benefits. So, it is needs to be cultivated as a stock for treatment.
More: Amazing Health Benefits of Coffee and Side Effects
Botanical Name and Taxonomic Classification
- Botanical name: Cassia occidentalis
- Class: Dicotyledonae
- Order: Fabales
- Species: Occidentalis
- Genus: Cassia
- Family: Leguminose
- Kingdom: Plantae
Popular Names of Coffee Senna
Coffee senna has many names and this depends on the place where it grows and develops. Among these names are: Coffee weed, Foetid cassia, Negro coffee, Kasunda, Ran-takda, Kasundri, Kasivda, Kasoda, Hant-thenga. Also, called as Bari kasondi, Rankasvinda, Nattam takarai, and Payaverai. Not only these, but also populer with name like Mattantakara, Nattam takarai, Reng-an, Thangedu, Kalkashunda, Kasundri, Kolthogache, Kasonji, and Kasondi.
Habitat
The habitat of the senna coffee plant is a plant that is considered to be native to Mexico, the Bahamas, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Barbados, and including several countries on the North American continent. In addition, it also includes native plants from the South American subcontinent such as Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Paraguay.
During the next period, the senna coffee plant was popularized and spread to several other countries such as Egypt, Mali, Angola, Madagascar, Mauritis, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea and several other countries. Furthermore, the spread of the coffee senna plant spread to the Asian continent. So, now the senna coffee plant can be found in Bangladesh, Brunei, Bhutan, China, Japan, India, Iran, Iraq, Hong Kong, Nepal, and Pakistan as well as several other countries.
Plants with the Latin name Cassia occidentalis sometimes grow taller than their usual size (2 m). It can be found in Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman, Lakshadweep, and Nicobar Islands and in Gujarat.
More: Ballerina Tea Benefits and Side Effects
Also see: 12 Health Benefits of Cleng Coffee
Morphology
Coffee senna is an erect, annual plant that grows to a height of up to 2 meters. The stems are brown, and greenish in color and have a soft and smooth texture.
Morphology
Coffee senna is an upright plant, annual plant that grows to a height of up to 2 meters. The stems are brown, and greenish in color and have a soft and smooth texture.
It is a dicotyledonous plant whose main root is diarch in nature. The roots show the presence of a number of radical vascular bundles with exarch xylem. While the leaves of the coffee senna plant are compound and alternate. Each leaf has a size of 4 cm with a width of about 1.5 – 2.5 cm.
While the flowers grow on the leaf axis and have green sepals with a length of 6-9 cm. The stamens of the flowers are 6 to 7 strands, and this plant produces flowers throughout the year.
Coffee senna fruit is dry, cracked, gray and dark green in color. The seeds inside are brown and grow from 3.5 to 4.5 mm with an oval shape and the surface of the seeds is smooth and flat.
Plantation
Before you know the health benefits of coffee senna, take a look at this, how to propagate the plant and in what kind of soil it grows.
The coffee senna plant grows well in humid and tropical and sub-tropical environments. He likes the lowlands and can also grow in various areas. Usually grows in abandoned areas or on the roadside. The seeds germinate at a temperature of 15 degrees to 36 degrees. The maximum temperature to be able to grow well is 24 C to 36 C. This plant needs annual rainfall in the range of 1000 to 2200 mm. While the acidity of the soil pH is around 4.7 to 6.3, it can sometimes grow at a pH of 8.4. So coffee senna can grow in various soil pH conditions.
It can tolerate low phosphorus, and overall it likes sandy loam soil and the senna coffee plant propagates through seeds and it is fast growing and short-lived.
Coffee senna care and maintenance
Some things you should pay attention to if you want to grow coffee senna, including:
- Availability of sufficient water throughout the day,
- Watering is necessary, but the soil must be well dry,
Uses of Coffee Senna Seeds
Some of the uses of senna coffee beans are as follows:
- Diuretic
- Remove toxins from the liver,
- As a liver tonic,
- Anti-bacterial,
- Anti-fungal,
- Stimulates the production of red blood cells,
- As a whooping cough remedy,
- Seizure medicine,
- Stomachic,
- Laxative,
- Expectorant,
- Antipyretic,
- As an antioxidant
Uses of leaves
The leaves are green and compound and are located on alternate petioles. Here are the uses of senna coffee leaves.
More: Black Tea Benefits for Health and Side Effects
- Antimicrobial agent,
- Good for scabies treatment,
- Medicine for various skin diseases,
- As a central nervous system depressant,
- Anti-inflammatory,
- As an anti-periodic, and
- Anti-diabetic
Uses and benefits of coffee senna root
Some of the benefits and uses of the roots of the Cassia occidentalis plant are as follows:
- Colagogue,
- Emetic,
- As a laxative,
- Anti-bacterial,
- Soothes stomach pain,
- Antipyretic,
- Treat coughs and colds,
- As an anti-inflammatory.
Other uses and benefits of coffee senna
- Often to be used as an ornamental plant,
- The seeds of the plant are roasted and made as a coffee powder substitute, practiced in Egypt and its surroundings,
- Young leaves, pods and flowers are consumed with food.
- Part of the plant can be used as green manure,
- In African culture, coffee senna has great and important benefits.
To get more detail coffee senna, let refer to this page: Coffee senna Benefits for health.
Coffee Senna in Ayurveda:
In Ayurvedic medicine, coffee senna is known as Kaasamrada and Kaasaari. In Ayurveda, the coffee senna plant is written there as a plant that has extraordinary health benefits. Among the health benefits of coffee senna is to treat skin infections, ringworm infections, abscesses, snake and scorpion bites.
The coffee senna plant has been widely used as a medicinal plant in various health problems including treating things related to the liver and inflammation.
Properties of Coffee Senna According to Ayurveda
- Flavors: Tikta (Bitter), Madhura (Sweet)
- Virya: Ushna (Heating potency)
- Guna: Laghu (Easier to digest), Rooksha (Dryness)
- Vipaka: Katu
Benefits of senna coffee leaves
- Shwasa- asthma and treat respiratory disorders,
- Aruchi- anorexia
- Kasa- treat cough, cold
Benefits of coffee senna flower
- Treat asthma and chronic respiratory disorders
- Treating stones, colds
- Treating breathing difficulties and flatulence
Root Benefits
A decoction of the roots of the coffee senna plant can cure dysuria, urinary retention, and inflammation, it is also useful orally to treat scorpion bites.
Uses and Benefits of Coffee Senna for beauty
1. Treats eczema and psothiatic patches
Mash the seeds and leaves of the senna coffee, make a paste and apply it on the infected skin. If applied regularly, it will provide relief from the effects of eczema and psoriatic patches.
2. Treat allergies and dermatitis
Mix senna coffee roots and beans, add gandhapashana, apply on the affected area. It can reduce and even heal dermatitis and patches.
3. Treating roundworm and tinea infections
Grow coffee senna seeds or leaves, make it into a paste, then apply it on the infected skin area. Regular application can reduce tinea roundworm infection.
Benefits of senna coffee for health (Home Remedies)
4. Treating asthma
The fresh leaves of the senna coffee plant are ground and made into a paste. The paste is filtered and extracted from it. Consume as much as 5 to 10 ml to cure your asthma.
5. Good for indigestion
The health benefits of coffee senna are also good for digestive problems. This coffee is good for dealing with your digestive problems.
Also see: Health Benefits of Pomegranate
6. Treats anorexia
If you regularly consume coffee senna, then this will increase your appetite, and this can also provide stable digestive health.
7. Relieves colic pain
Grind the fresh leaves of the coffee senna plant and make a paste. Consume twice a day, do this remedy for three days to cure colic.
8. Medicine for chickenpox
Furthermore, the health benefits of coffee senna are treating chicken pox. Combine coffee senna leaves, special grass, sandalwood, and dhamasa. This mixed water is filtered and used as bath water. This herbal mixture will be an effective natural herb to treat chickenpox.
9. Increase strength
When you drink a drink containing roasted senna coffee beans (senna coffee) and drink it, it will add strength to the body.
10. As antiperiodic
Boil the Kasaamrada leaves to a boil and drink it every day when it is cold. The benefit is to stop the recurrence of the disease. Whatever type of disease you are, when you routinely drink this drink, you will be awake from relapse.
11. Relieves coughs and colds
To get the benefits of coffee senna to cure colds and coughs, then you can drink a mixture of senna coffee roots and flowers. Boil the roots and put the water in a glass, add dried flowers from the senna coffee plant, then drink to treat colds and coughs.