henna tree, (Lawsonia inermis), also called Egyptian privet, tropical shrub or small tree of the loosestrife family (Lythraceae), native to northern Africa, Asia, and Australia. The leaves are the source of a reddish-brown dye, known as henna, which is commonly used for temporary body art and to dye fabrics. The plant bears small opposite leaves and small, fragrant, white to red flowers. In addition to being grown for its dye, it is used as an ornamental.
Myrtales, the myrtle order of flowering plants, composed of 9 families, 380 genera, and about 13,000 species distributed throughout the tropics and warmer regions of the world. The majority of these species belong to just two families, Melastomataceae and Myrtaceae. Myrtales includes many trees (notably Eucalyptus), shrubs such as the classic myrtle, several food and spice genera, and many ornamental plants. Myrtales is placed in the basal Rosid group of the core eudicots in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV (APG IV) botanical classification system (see angiosperm).
The vast majority of species in Myrtales are shrubs and trees of the tropics and subtropics. Some of the most important sources of pulp and timber in these areas, such as Eucalyptus, belong to the order. Myrtales has few representatives in temperate regions and almost none in cold zones; however, some species occur in Tasmania, and others reach the timberline in southern Australia.
