Henna

Henna, a small shrub, called by botanists Lawsonia alba (also L. incrimis or spinosa, the younger bushes being spineless). It is also known as 'Egyptian privet' or 'Jamaica mignonette.' Henna grows in moist situations through- out the north of Africa, Arabia, Persia, and the East Indies. It is cultivated in many places for the sake of its flowers, which are much prized for their fragrance, particularly by the Egyptian ladies; but still more for the sake of the leaves, which abound in colouring matter, and which, being dried, powdered, and made into a paste with hot water and catechu, are very generally employed by women throughout the East to stain the nails and tips of the fingers and parts of their feet of an orange colour; also by men to dye their beards, the orange colour being converted into a deep black by indigo; and for dyeing of the manes and hoofs of horses, and to dye skins and leather reddish-yellow. Powdered henna leaves form a large article of export from Egypt to Persia, and to various parts of Turkey, from which they find their way to more northern countries, and even to Germany, to be employed in dyeing furs and some kinds of leather. The use of henna for staining the nails appears—from allusions in ancient poets, and from some of the Egyptian mummies—to have prevailed from very ancient times. It is perhaps the camphire of the Bible. The use of henna for hands and feet is said to check perspiration, and gives a feeling of coolness. The process has to be repeated every two or three weeks.