Foetid cassia
StarSenna tora
Synonyms: Cassia obtusifolia var. humilis, Cassia borneensis, Cassia tora f. hirsuta, Cassia contorta, Glycyrrhiza kansoo, Chamaecrista tagera, Cassia sunsub, Tagera filiformis, Chamaefistula contorta, Emelista tora, Cassia gallinaria, Cassia tora, Diallobus tora, Cassia tula, Cassia tala, Cassia sagera, Cassia tagera
Traditionally used for
- Eye health
- Bowel health
- Skin
Western Herbalism Properties
Traditional Uses
Senna tora is a major medicinal plant across several traditions. In Ayurveda the seed ("Chakramarda," "Edagaja") and leaves are used for skin diseases, ringworm and other fungal infections, applied as a paste, and the plant is used for constipation and as a mild purgative. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the dried seed is the drug "Jue Ming Zi" (cassia seed), used to clear the liver, brighten the eyes and relieve constipation. Among the Houma of Louisiana, a compound decoction of the root was taken for typhoid (Speck, 1941; NAEB). The young leaves and shoots are also eaten as a potherb and the roasted seeds used as a coffee substitute in parts of Asia (Ayurvedic and TCM materia medica; NAEB).
Gallery
Botanical Description
Senna tora, the foetid or sickle senna (formerly Cassia tora), is an annual herb or subshrub of the Fabaceae growing 0.3-1.5 m tall, with an unpleasant smell when bruised. The pinnately compound leaves bear three pairs of obovate leaflets and a small gland between the lowest pair of leaflets. The yellow flowers, with five petals, are borne singly or in pairs in the leaf axils. The characteristic fruit is a slender, curved (sickle-shaped) cylindrical pod 10-20 cm long containing many rhombohedral seeds arranged in one row. Native to tropical Asia and now a pantropical weed of waste ground, roadsides and cultivated land, it flowers and fruits through the wet season. The shining brown seeds are the source of the East Asian drug cassia seed.
Active Constituents
Aurantio-obtusin
Anthraquinone (anthranoid aglycone)Concentration: The marker compound assayed for quality control of the Cassiae Semen drug prepared from this species and from Senna obtusifolia
Aurantio-obtusin is the compound Chinese quality control uses to identify and grade the cassia seed drug, so a monograph that omits it is describing a different material. Pharmacologically it belongs to the anthraquinone family that gives the seed its mild bowel-moving action, and it has been studied preclinically for anti-inflammatory activity. There is no human trial of the isolated compound.
Obtusifolin
Anthraquinone (anthranoid aglycone)Concentration: One of the principal anthraquinones of the ripe seed
A characteristic anthraquinone of cassia seed, investigated preclinically for effects on ocular surface inflammation, which is the modern echo of the drug's traditional eye indication. Animal and cell work only.
Chrysophanol
Anthraquinone (anthranoid aglycone)Concentration: A major seed anthraquinone; content has been quantified in Cassia tora seed extracts alongside emodin
One of the two anthraquinones most often measured in this seed. Anthranoid aglycones are the chemical basis of the seed's gentle laxative reputation, though the effect is far weaker than in true senna leaf and pod. Chrysophanol isolated from Cassia tora seed has been studied for retinal cell protection in vitro.
Emodin
Anthraquinone (anthranoid aglycone)Concentration: Quantified alongside chrysophanol in Cassia tora seed extracts
Emodin carries a regulatory as well as a pharmacological significance. The European Food Safety Authority concluded that emodin and aloe-emodin are genotoxic in vitro and that hydroxyanthracene derivatives should be treated as genotoxic and carcinogenic absent contrary data, and the European Commission accordingly added emodin and preparations containing it to the prohibited list for foods in 2021. That prohibition was subsequently annulled by the EU General Court in November 2024 for all the listed substances except danthron, so the current legal position in the EU is unsettled rather than a settled ban. The underlying genotoxicity concern for chronic high-dose anthranoid exposure has not gone away.
Rubrofusarin and nor-rubrofusarin
Naphtho-alpha-pyronesConcentration: Crystalline seed constituents, identified in 1963 as the substances then labelled Tora Substance C and Tora Substance B
Naphthopyrones are the chemical class that distinguishes cassia seed from the true laxative sennas, which do not contain them, and they are a large part of why this seed is drunk as a roasted tea rather than dosed as a purgative. Rubrofusarin and its gentiobioside are radical-scavenging in vitro.
Toralactone
Naphtho-alpha-pyroneConcentration: A minor naphthopyrone first characterised from Cassia tora seed in 1973
A structurally distinctive naphthopyrone of this seed, named after the species. It is a chemotaxonomic marker rather than a compound with established clinical activity.
Cassiaside, alatemin and rubrofusarin gentiobioside
Naphthopyrone glycosidesConcentration: Glycosidic naphthopyrones of the seed
The glycosylated naphthopyrones of the seed, characterised as the principal radical-scavenging constituents in a DPPH-based fractionation of Cassia tora seed. This is in vitro antioxidant chemistry and does not by itself support any clinical claim.
Cassia gum (seed endosperm galactomannan)
Galactomannan polysaccharideConcentration: The bulk of the seed endosperm; the commercial basis of the cassia gum industry
The endosperm galactomannan is why this species is grown industrially at all, as a thickener and gelling agent. Clinically it matters as a viscous soluble fibre: like guar gum, a galactomannan taken with medication can slow gastric emptying and reduce the rate and extent of absorption of drugs taken at the same time.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Cassiae Semen prepared from Senna obtusifolia (Jue Ming Zi)
This is the identity point a practitioner must have before anything else. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia defines Cassiae Semen, Jue Ming Zi, as the dried ripe seed of Cassia obtusifolia L. or Cassia tora L., that is of Senna obtusifolia or of Senna tora. The two species are co-official, are traded together, and share the anthraquinone and naphthopyrone chemistry, so a batch of Jue Ming Zi may legitimately be either. A patient taking Jue Ming Zi and a Senna tora product is not necessarily taking two different drugs, and their anthranoid exposure adds up.
Clinical note: Count Senna tora seed and Jue Ming Zi as one anthranoid exposure when totting up a patient's intake. Conversely, do not assume a Senna tora record and a Jue Ming Zi record describe different plants: at the level of the seed drug they frequently do not. The parts differ, though, and Senna tora leaf and root are not Jue Ming Zi under any reading.
Senna (Senna alexandrina, Fan Xie Ye) and stimulant laxatives such as bisacodyl and sodium picosulfate
Two things need separating. First, Senna tora is not the senna of the laxative aisle: that drug is Senna alexandrina leaf and pod, a far more potent anthranoid stimulant, and the shared genus name is a documented source of confusion. Second, Senna tora seed does contain anthraquinones and does have a mild bowel-moving action, so adding it to a stimulant laxative is additive. The risk of the confusion running the other way, someone dosing Senna tora at senna-laxative strengths or vice versa, is the more serious of the two.
Clinical note: Confirm the binomial and the plant part on any product labelled senna or cassia. Avoid stacking Senna tora seed with a stimulant laxative, and never substitute one senna for another on the strength of the common name.
Digoxin, corticosteroids and diuretics
Chronic anthranoid laxative use is an established cause of potassium depletion, and hypokalaemia potentiates digoxin toxicity and is worsened by loop diuretics and corticosteroids. Senna tora seed is a weaker anthranoid than true senna, but the interaction becomes real when the seed is taken daily as a long-term tea, which is exactly how it is consumed in East Asia.
Clinical note: In a patient taking cassia seed tea daily alongside digoxin or a diuretic, check potassium. Discourage indefinite daily use of any anthranoid-containing seed.
Oral drugs taken at the same time as cassia gum or a thick seed decoction
The seed endosperm is a galactomannan, chemically the same class as guar gum. Viscous soluble fibres of this class slow gastric emptying and reduce the rate, and sometimes the extent, of absorption of drugs taken with them. No study has tested cassia gum with a specific drug, so this is reasoning from the behaviour of the polysaccharide class rather than a measured interaction with this species.
Clinical note: Separate cassia seed preparations and cassia gum from critical oral medication by two hours, particularly for levothyroxine, bisphosphonates and antibiotics.
Antihypertensive drugs
Cassia seed is used in Chinese practice for headache, dizziness and red eyes attributed to ascendant liver yang, a picture that overlaps with hypertension, and blood-pressure lowering is among the pharmacological activities catalogued for Cassiae Semen in the review literature. The supporting data are preclinical, and no controlled human trial has measured a blood-pressure effect, so the interaction should be watched for rather than assumed.
Clinical note: Ask hypertensive patients whether they drink cassia seed tea, and if so keep it consistent rather than starting and stopping it around dose titrations.
Hepatotoxic drugs and drugs requiring hepatic monitoring
The 2023 Journal of Ethnopharmacology review of Cassiae Semen devotes a section to toxicity, and the wider anthraquinone literature raises hepatic and renal concerns for chronic high-dose emodin exposure. Ordinary tea-strength use has not been shown to injure the liver in people. This entry exists to mark the direction of concern for prolonged concentrated-extract use, not to claim a demonstrated hepatotoxicity of the seed.
Clinical note: Avoid long-term concentrated anthraquinone extracts of the seed in patients on methotrexate, azole antifungals or antituberculous therapy. Tea-strength short-term use is a different exposure.
Senna occidentalis (Wang Jiang Nan Zi) and other Senna congeners collected alongside this species
Senna tora grows as a weed across South and East Asia alongside several congeners with similar pods and seeds, of which Senna occidentalis is the dangerous one. Accidental ingestion of Senna occidentalis seed by children in northern India has produced clusters of acute hepatomyoencephalopathy with deaths, reported repeatedly in the Indian paediatric and critical care literature. This is a botanical identification hazard rather than a documented commercial substitution of one drug for the other, and it is recorded here so that wild-collected material is not accepted on the strength of a common name.
Clinical note: Do not accept wild-collected or unauthenticated cassia seed. Any acute encephalopathy with hepatitis and rhabdomyolysis in a child after eating wild pods should raise Senna occidentalis rather than Senna tora.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Foetid cassia. Not a prescription.
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 8 studiesRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
1
0 verified · 1 unverified
In vitro / animal
6
0 verified · 6 unverified
Show 6 studies
- Quantification of two biologically active anthraquinones emodin and chrysophanol in Cassia tora seed extracts
- Anti-Apoptotic Effect of Chrysophanol Isolated from Cassia tora Seed Extract on Blue-Light-Induced A2E-Loaded Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells
- Cassia tora L. (Jue-ming-zi) has anticancer activity in TCA8113 cells in vitro and exerts anti-metastatic effects in vivo
- Alatemin, cassiaside and rubrofusarin gentiobioside, radical scavenging principles from the seeds of Cassia tora on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical
- Studies on the Constituents of the Seeds of Cassia tora L.II. (On the Purgative Crude Drugs. VII.) The Structure of the New Naphtho-α-pyrone Derivative, Toralactone
- Crystalline chemical components of the seeds of Cassia tora Linn. Identity of Tora Substance C with rubrofusarin and Tora Substance B with nor-rubrofusarin
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Efficacy of herbal anti-microbial soap in Tinea corporis: A randomized controlled study
The only randomised human trial found that names this species. A soap made from hydroalcoholic extracts of Curcuma longa, Azadirachta indica and Cassia tora was tested against placebo soap in thirty patients with tinea corporis over four weeks, single-blind. Erythema, scaling and desquamation resolved completely in 70%, 80% and 25% of the treatment group against none in the control group, total symptom score fell significantly, and KOH mount converted to negative in 80% against 20%. The finding matches the classical Ayurvedic and Unani use of this leaf for ringworm, but the preparation contains three herbs, so the effect cannot be attributed to Senna tora alone, and the trial is small and single-blind.
Improvement of Presbyopia, Dry Eye, Intraocular Pressure, and Near Vision Through Cassiae Tea Consumption
Human study of the cassia seed drug taken as a tea, 10 g of cassiae semen in 500 ml of water daily for six months, across 425 participants in a series of comparisons against plain water with vitamin C. By month four the authors report increased tear volume, reduced intraocular pressure, pupil constriction, improved near vision and higher serum superoxide dismutase, with a dose relationship for near vision. Two cautions matter. The design is a set of non-randomised group comparisons rather than a single controlled trial, and cassiae semen is the dual-source drug, so the paper does not establish which of Senna tora and Senna obtusifolia the tea was made from.
Quantification of two biologically active anthraquinones emodin and chrysophanol in Cassia tora seed extracts
Analytical quantification of the two anthraquinones most relevant to safety, emodin and chrysophanol, in seed extracts of this species specifically rather than of Cassiae Semen generally. Useful because the regulatory concern about hydroxyanthracene derivatives attaches to emodin content, and the content is what determines whether that concern applies to a given product.
Anti-Apoptotic Effect of Chrysophanol Isolated from Cassia tora Seed Extract on Blue-Light-Induced A2E-Loaded Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells
Chrysophanol isolated from Cassia tora seed protected human retinal pigment epithelial cells against blue-light-induced apoptosis in a lipofuscin-loaded model. This is a cell-culture study, but it is one of the few that ties the traditional eye indication of this specific species to a named constituent and a defined mechanism.
Cassia tora L. (Jue-ming-zi) has anticancer activity in TCA8113 cells in vitro and exerts anti-metastatic effects in vivo
Cell-line and mouse study reporting antiproliferative activity of a Cassia tora seed preparation against a tongue carcinoma line and reduced metastasis in vivo. Preclinical only; it establishes no clinical anticancer indication and should not be presented to patients as one.
Alatemin, cassiaside and rubrofusarin gentiobioside, radical scavenging principles from the seeds of Cassia tora on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical
Activity-guided fractionation identifying the naphthopyrone glycosides alatemin, cassiaside and rubrofusarin gentiobioside as the principal radical-scavenging constituents of this seed. Chemically important because it shows the antioxidant activity of cassia seed sits with the naphthopyrones rather than with the anthraquinones.
Studies on the Constituents of the Seeds of Cassia tora L.II. (On the Purgative Crude Drugs. VII.) The Structure of the New Naphtho-α-pyrone Derivative, Toralactone
Original structural characterisation of toralactone from the seed of this species, part of a Japanese series on purgative crude drugs. Cited as the primary source for a constituent named after Cassia tora and specific to it.
Crystalline chemical components of the seeds of Cassia tora Linn. Identity of Tora Substance C with rubrofusarin and Tora Substance B with nor-rubrofusarin
The Indian structural work that identified the crystalline seed constituents then known only as Tora Substances as rubrofusarin and nor-rubrofusarin. Historically the point at which the naphthopyrone chemistry of this species was pinned down.
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Husbandman's Classic of Materia Medica), entry for Jue Ming Zi
Han dynasty compilation, traditionally dated to around the 1st to 2nd century CE (Chinese tradition)Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, monograph for Cassiae Semen (Jue Ming Zi)
Current official Chinese standard (modern Chinese official standard)Ayurvedic materia medica tradition, under the name Chakramarda, and the parallel Unani use of Cassia tora
Classical and mediaeval Ayurvedic and Unani tradition, with Unani texts including the Canon of Medicine (Ayurvedic and Unani traditions)East Asian roasted cassia seed tea tradition (Chinese jue ming zi cha, Korean gyeolmyeongja-cha, Japanese hama-cha)
Long-standing East Asian domestic practice, continuing today (Chinese, Korean and Japanese traditions)References
- Chen Y, Chen X, Yang X, Gao P, Yue C, Wang L, Wu T, Jiang T, Wu H, Tang L, Wang Z. Cassiae Semen: A comprehensive review of botany, traditional use, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity, and quality control . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2023) [DOI]
- Dong X, Fu J, Yin X, Yang C, Zhang X, Wang W, Du X, Wang Q, Ni J. Cassiae semen: A review of its phytochemistry and pharmacology . Molecular Medicine Reports (2017) [DOI]
- Telrandhe UB, Gunde MC. Phytochemistry, pharmacology and multifarious activity of Cassia tora L.: A comprehensive review . Annals of Phytomedicine: An International Journal (2022) [DOI]
- Akbar S. Senna tora (L.) Roxb. (Fabaceae/Leguminosae) . Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants (2020) [DOI]
- Devangi C, Manoshree M. Bioactives and Pharmacology of Stinking Cassia: Senna tora (L.) Roxb. (Syn. Cassia tora L.) . Phytochemical Composition and Pharmacy of Medicinal Plants (2023) [DOI]
- Rajan SK, Arya SS. Valorization of Cassia tora Seeds: Extraction and Biofunctional Characterization of Cassia tora Seed Gum . Biopolymers (2025) [DOI]
- Kumar V, Chhapola V, Kanwal S. Hepatomyoencephalopathy secondary to Cassia occidentalis poisoning: Report of three cases from North India . Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine (2018) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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