Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Henna (Lawsonia inermis), of the Lythraceae family. Much-branched glabrous shrub or small tree, often spinescent, with small opposite leaves and fragrant creamy panicled flowers; native range: Native to the arid tropics and subtropics of North Africa, West Asia and the Indian subcontinent; cultivated across the hot dry belt from Morocco to India. Globally recognized as madayantika / mendhika / raktagarbha in Sanskrit, mehndi / mehandi in Hindi, hinna (حناء) in Arabic, and henna, Egyptian privet, mignonette tree, camphire in English. The part used is leaf (chief); also flower and its distilled attar, bark and seed. The dried leaf grinds to a khaki-green powder, faintly hay-scented and dry-astringent; wetted to a paste it stains skin, nail and hair a slow-deepening orange-red (lawsone).
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
HENNA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Henna
- Scientific name
- Lawsonia inermis L.
- Family
- Lythraceae
Form
- Part used
- leaf (chief); also flower and its distilled attar, bark and seed
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter · astringent (tikta-kashaya)
- Western
- astringent · bitter
- Unani
- astringent · bitter (qabid)
Temperature
Ayurveda: cooling (sheeta)
Western: cool
Unani: cold & dry (2nd degree)
convergence: all {witness_count} witnesses hold it cooling — a drug laid on to quench heat and burning
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- skin · nerves
- Unani
- brain · nerves
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- pittaghna and kaphaghna, kushtaghna (heals skin disease), vrana-shodhana-ropana (cleanses and heals wounds and ulcers), dahaprashamana (relieves burning), keshya (favours the hair)
- Western
- astringent, refrigerant, styptic, mildly antiseptic and vulnerary; a cosmetic dye for hair, skin and nails
- Unani
- qabid (astringent), muhallil (resolvent of hot swellings), mubarrid (refrigerant), habis (styptic); cooling to the head
Cautions
- Contraindications
- G6PD deficiency — risk of haemolysis, most gravely in infants and neonates; internal medicinal use best avoided in pregnancy
- Toxicity
- pure henna is generally well tolerated on the skin; 'black henna' adulterated with para-phenylenediamine (PPD) causes severe contact dermatitis, blistering and lasting sensitisation, and lawsone can provoke haemolysis in G6PD-deficient individuals
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