Growing Henna in the Medicine Garden

Henna is a tender perennial. I have it growing in a pot so that I can move it into the Greenhouse in the winter.

Henna has been used since the Bronze age to dye hair, skin, fingernails, leather, and wool. For skin dyeing, the leaves are ground into a paste - whole unbroken leaves will not stain the skin. The coloring property in Henna that dyes the skin is called lawsone. Typically the leaves are ground, dried, milled, then mixed with an acidic compound (lemon juice or strong tea) and made into a paste. It is easier to intricately decorate the skin with a paste as opposed to the crushed leaves. Although the stain is immediate, the longer the paste remains on the skin the darker the stain will become.

This is a fun, interesting, and pretty herb to have as part of a collection .