Lawsonia inermis L.

 
  • Family : LYTHRACEAE
    (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY)
  • Family (as per The Plant List) : Lythraceae
  • Species : Lawsonia inermis
  • Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Lawsonia inermis L.
  • Common name : Henna, Egyptian priven, Cypress shrub, Camphire
  • Vernacular name : Mehendi (Hin.); Gorante, Madhurangi (Kan.); Gorinta chettu, Goranti (Tel.); Manjuati, Benjati, Manghati (Ori.); Medhini, Nakharanjani (San.)
  • Key identification features : A small-sized and much-branched shrub. Branches are tetragonous. Leaves are simple, nearly sessile, lanceolate, often with a stiff point at the apex. Flowers are small, white or rose-coloured, fragrant and borne on pyramidal panicles. Petals are clawed with undulate margin. Fruit is a globose capsule tipped with persistent style.
  • Habit : Shrub
  • Flower, Fruit : January-April
  • Comments : Cultivated in plains for the commercial 'Henna (Mehendi)'.
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • World Distribution : Central Asia, Northern Africa, Abyssinia, Socotra, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia
  • Literature : R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District ; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District ; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipal, Orissa; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983.
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Arun Singh R., Deepak Kumar, Raja K Swamy and Navendu Page (2016). Digital Flora of Eastern Ghats. http://easternghats.ces.iisc.ernet.in/plants.php?name=Lawsonia inermis. Downloaded on 4 April 2025.

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Digital Flora of Eastern Ghats by Herbarium JCB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://easternghats.ces.iisc.ernet.in.