Henna is a flowering plant and a native to tropical and subtropical
regions of Africa, southern Asia and northern Australia.
It is commonly used as hair dye and with the ascending trend of tattoos
henna is used for body tattoos which is considered the most safe and
painless alternative form of body ornamentation.
It is been used for colouring hair and hands from thousands of years.
Other than colouring hairs and hands henna has medicinal uses too.
Henna is small shrub that grows to a height of 6 m. the branches of this
plant are lateral with leaves that grow in pair which are 2-4cm long.
The flowers are fragrant and white-red rose like.
Henna plant has reported a life zone of 19 to 27 degrees centigrade with
an annual precipitation of 0.2 to 4.2 m and thrives in the soil with pH
balance of 4.3 to 8.0.
It is perennial shrub naturalized and cultivated in the parts of India,
America, Egypt and regions of the Middle East.
Leaves
Henna leaves contain an important pigment called 'lawsone'. It also
contains mannite, tannic acid, Gallic acid, mucilage and naphtaquinone.
