Efficacy of Henna Plant (lawsonia Inermis) Against Escerichia Coli, Klebsiella Pneumoniaea, Epidermophyton Species

Lawsonia inermis The plant has properties that deter and relieve human discomfort from fungal infections of the skin, lice, and sunburn; henna also has analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects on the skin. Henna is also believed to possess cultural powers of blessing and luck, particularly for women, protecting the wearer against the "Evil Eye"—a cultural construction of malevolence that causes disease and pain (Al-Rawi, 2020). Henna retains green leaves through long dry spells in its wild habitat; animals that browse on henna have their lips stained red-orange from the lawsone in the leaves. Humans may have first noticed this characteristic stain when following their grazing animals, observing the harmless color on their mouths after eating henna leaves. When humans tried to wipe the chewed henna from the animals' mouths, their fingers would also become stained. This "discovery of henna" likely occurred across various regions of North Africa during the warming of the late Holocene, where wild henna shows considerable genetic diversity (Ebrahimi et al., 2017). Artifacts definitively proving human use of henna date back to pre-dynastic Egypt, where it was used to mask the appearance of greying hair (Morcos et al., 2019). During prolonged drought, henna may drop its leaves and become semi-dormant, but it quickly rebounds at the first sign of moisture, shooting forth new twigs and leaves. This regrowth marks the return of the rainy season in arid climates and is celebrated in many fertility and marriage traditions across the regions where henna is culturally significant (Sood et al., 2019). Historical evidence shows continuous henna use in celebrations of women's fertility and marriage, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean since the Bronze Age. Other regions, including North and East Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, may have had similar traditions stretching back over four millennia, although archaeological evidence is uneven (Cartwright-Jones, 2016).