Heena Plants

Henna, lawsonia inermis, is a small desert tree, but you can grow it as a houseplant. Henna prefers a hot climate with long droughts. Henna is used to drought/monsoon cycles. Henna is a shrub which can grow maximum 7m high. The color is grayish brown bark. Its wood is hard and is used to prepared tool handles and tent pegs.

Henna produces red-orange dyeing molecule. This molecule has proteins and so it has been used as to color the skin, hair hands, feets and much more. Henna produces highest dye content in temperatures between 35°C and 45°C. Temperatures below 5°C will kill the henna plant. Leaves of henna are almond-shaped and narrower at the end attached to the tree. Henna is commercially cultivated in western India, Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya, Pakistan and Iran. Presently the Pali district of Rajasthan is the most heavily cultivated henna production area in India, with over 100 henna processors operating in Sojat City.

As a medicinal plant, Henna has many useful properties which are as follows:- *Henna has been used for astringent *antihemorrhagic *intestinal antineoplastic *cardio-inhibitory *hypotensive

It has also been used as a folk remedy against amoebiasis, headache, jaundice, and leprosy. Henna extracts show antibacterial, antifungal, and ultraviolet light screening activity. The flowers possess a pleasant aroma and crude perfumes are produced in some major growing areas like Rajasthan by preparing a suspension of comminuted flowers in vegetableoil.

Henna in the West is most commonly used to dye hair. But with the popularity of tattoos, henna and the art of Mehndi is considered a safe, painless and non-permanent alternative form of body decoration. Although henna is traditionally drawn only on hands and feet, feel free to create your designs on arms, legs, around the belly button, and even may be behind the neck.