Staining Effect of Dye Extracted from Dry Leaves of Lawsonia Inermis Linn (henna) on Angiospermic Stem Tissue

A natural dye lawsone (2-hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinone) was isolated from dry leaves of Lawsonia inermis L., by extraction with clove oil, ethyl alcohol, water and its effectiveness as staining agent for angiospermic stem tissue was studied. Lawsonia revealed meta-chromatic property of staining. A 10%w/v crude extract of Lawsonia inermis L., leaves in ethyl alcohol and water were used for staining stem cross section of angiospermic plants like Helianthus annuus L., and Zea mays L. Dye extracted from Lawsonia inermis leaves in ethyl alcohol profusely stained vascular bundle (sclerenchyma) of the angiospermic stem cross section of Helianthus annuus L., however, ground parenchyma was stained very lightly Dye extracted from Lawsonia inermis leaves in 10%w/v water though stained the sclerenchyma of Zea mays stem cross section more effectively than parenchyma in Helianthus annuus, but not as profusely as result of Lawsonia inermis in ethyl alcohol. Within each vascular bundle xylem cells were stained very effectively but the cortex and medulla were stained less effectively. However staining power of the extracted dye of Lawsonia inermis L., with respect of different stem tissue was apparently variable according to the solvent used, but the extracted dye of Lawsonia inermis L., proved to be weak staining agent for parenchyma of angiospermic stem tissue in both the species of Helianthus annuus L., and Zea mays L., as members of dicot and monocot respectively. This open a new avenue of research and further probes to discover better method of extraction of the dyes in concentrated form in more different solvents and better method of preparing stains from them, will finally prove their validity and will be useful addition in botanical staining materials.