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Names: |
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| Family | Lythraceae. |
| Genus & Species | Lawsonia inermis |
| AKA | Lawsonia alba. |
| Common Names | Henna. Mignonette tree. Jamaica mignogette. Egyptian privet. |
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| Size/Shape | Handsome and graceful shrub or small tree. Fast growing. Up to 20 feet tall. Can be grown in a container. Henna is a juvenile plant for the first two years and the branches do not have thorns. In mature plants, thorns develop at the leaf buds during dormant phases. Usually only several feet tall. |
| Leaves | Small, pointed, glossy green leaves. Opposite, elliptic to elliptic lanceolate leaves 0.5 to 2 inches long (1.2-5 cm), 0.4 to 1.2 inches wide (1-3 cm). |
| Flowers | It produces innumerable, tiny white flowers in long panicles. Terminal panicles. |
| Blooming Season | Summer. Sometimes grown as an annual, so it probably blooms the first year from seed. April or May. |
| Fragrance | Very fragrant. The flowers possess a pleaseant aroma and crude perfumes are produced in some major growing areas by preparing a suspension of mashed flowers in vegetable oil. Among the most fragrant flowers on earth. The fragrance is best from a distance when mixed with air. |
| Use | The orange-red dye, henna, is obtained by crushing the leaves and adding lemon juice to the filtered liquid. |
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| Propagation | Cuttings or seed. |
| Soil | A soil pH of 4.3 to 8.0. Clay or silt or gravel carried by rushing streams and deposited where the stream slows down. Prefers acid soil. |
| Water | Moderate water. Semi-arid regions. It will tolerate long droughts. An arid or at least seasonally dry climate. |
| Pruning | Can be pruned. |
| Light | Full sun. Full sun to partly shady. |
| Climate | Warmer parts of the world. Tropics. Zones 9-11. It will tolerate extreme heat. |
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| Source to Buy | Chilterns seeds. |
| http://tinyurl.com/jxqvk | |
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