Aavarai is Senna auriculata, Tanner’s Cassia — the yellow-flowered dry-land shrub Tamil houses know as aavarai poo. Older packets say Cassia auriculata. Kew now files it in Senna. It is not the senna laxative of European chemists (Senna alexandrina); a shared genus does not make them interchangeable.
- Botanical name
- Senna auriculata (L.) Roxb.
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Tamil
- Aavarai
- Hindi
- Tarwar
- Sanskrit
- Āvartakī
- Parts used
- Flowers, Bark, Leaves, Seeds
- Habit
- Yellow-flowered shrub of dry South India
- Last updated
- 2026-10-30
How to recognise Aavarai
Roxburgh published the combination after Linnaeus’s Cassia auriculata. The family is Fabaceae. It is a shrub with even-pinnate leaves, a distinctive ear-like (auriculate) stipule at the leaf base, and bright yellow flowers in axillary racemes. The pod is flattened.
The stipule is the field mark students remember: a rounded ear at the base of the leaf. Without it you may have another yellow Senna.
Tamil aavarai / aavaram and Hindi tarwar are the names when the seller means this shrub. English Tanner’s Cassia remembers the bark’s old use in leather. Flower, bark, leaf and seed are four articles in traditional lists.
Senna alexandrina (the laxative senna) is a different species with a different leaflet and a different job. A “senna tea” that only says senna has not named aavarai.
Kew accepts Senna auriculata. A dry-district hedge in bloom after the rains is the usual Tamil picture.
Dried flowers for aavarai tea should still look like crumpled yellow petals, not like a brown dust that could be any Cassia.
The shrub is common on poor, dry soil and is also planted as a hedge. A yellow pea-flower on a dry bund in Tamil Nadu after rain is often this species if the ear-stipule is there.
Seed is dark in a flattened pod. Traditional lists treat seed as more cautionary than flower. A “aavarai” capsule that does not say flower or seed has not named the article.
Traditional use of Aavarai
Siddha and Tamil household
Aavarai poo is a household flower tea in South India. Flower tea and bark decoction are different preparations.
Tamil vernacular
Ayurveda
Āvartakī appears in traditional lists, including metabolic headings. Historical headings are not an ICD diagnosis.
Ayurvedic materia medica headings
Modern notes on Aavarai
Flower-tea brands have made the Tamil name travel. A tea bag and a bark extract are not interchangeable.
The practical modern issue is the Cassia/Senna name change plus substitution with other yellow sennas.
Aavarai safety
Flower as an occasional tea is the ordinary household exposure. Bark, seed and “senna” laxative products are not that tea.
People who already use glucose-lowering medicines should not add unnamed Cassia/Senna teas because a stall promised a number.
Pregnant people should not start bark or seed preparations from a flower-tea story. Laxative sennas are a separate caution.
Ecology and sourcing
The shrub is of dry scrub and is also planted. Flower harvest does not kill a managed bush. Bark stripping does more harm.
Related plants
Also in Fabaceae
Questions about Aavarai
Is Cassia auriculata a different plant?
No. It is the older combination. The accepted name is Senna auriculata.
Is Aavarai the same senna as the laxative tea?
No. The famous laxative senna is usually Senna alexandrina. Aavarai is a different species.
Sources
- Senna auriculata (L.) Roxb. — Plants of the World Online, Kew (search) (accessed 2026)
- Wikidata item Q2724356 (Senna auriculata)
Educational page about a plant. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not an offer to sell. Traditional use is historical. If you need care, ask a licensed clinician. Questions: hello@meevamed.com.