Senna Pods

Senna pods tend to grow as a shrub or bush. The leaves are pinnate with opposite paired leaflets. The flower has five sepals and five usually yellow petals, and there are usually ten straight stamens which may be different sizes. The fruit is a legume pod containing several seeds which are used for their sennocide active ingredient mainly used in the pharmaceutical industry as a laxative ingredient.

The best senna is distinguished by a bright yellowish-green color of the leaves with a faint odor resembling the smell of green tea and a bittersweet taste. Senna grows in September after the autumn rains and in April. Senna contains a family of hydroxyanthrancene glycosides, the most plentiful of which are sennosides A and B.

It is mainly known for increasing the movement of the colon by increasing the functions of the intestinal wall.

New crop yields are difficult to ascertain/ estimate early in the season in Sudan because senna is a wild crop, spread across large areas and normally collected after other traditional food and cash crops are harvested [namely sesame and groundnuts]. Another consideration is the rainy season was very good in last year and hence good crop yields are expected for senna and other Agri-commodities during 2017.
Estimated Sudanese production is around 700 tons per year