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flor de San Jose, flor de san josé, palo zorillo

showy senna, velvet leaf senna, velvet leaf wild sensitive plant

Habit Shrubs or trees, to 20 m. Leaves mesophyllous to slightly sclerophyllous, 8.5–28.5 cm, hairy, sometimes densely; stipules caducous; extrafloral nectaries 0; leaflet pairs 2–5, blades bicolored, usually obovate to elliptic, sometimes ovate, 20–130 × 10–60 mm. Herbs, perennial, to 1.5 m. Leaves slightly sclerophyllous, 6–16 cm, densely hairy; stipules caducous, 1–3 mm wide; extrafloral nectaries between all leaflet pairs, stipitate; leaflet pairs 4–8, blades oblong-elliptic or ovate- to obovate-elliptic, 20–50 × 8–20 mm.
Racemes

5–55-flowered, not spikelike;

bracts early caducous, to 5 mm.

usually 5–25-flowered;

bracts caducous.

Pedicels

13–28 mm.

6–22 mm.

Flowers

asymmetric, enantiostylous;

calyx greenish to yellow;

corolla yellow-orange, slightly dark-veined, longest petal 12–23 mm, highly asymmetric, 1 or both lower petals highly modified, strongly concave and folded over stamens (flag-shaped);

androecium slightly heterantherous, stamens 7 (similar in shape and size, abaxial ones slightly longer), staminodes 3;

anthers 2.8–5 mm, dehiscing by 2 short slits, apical appendage 0;

gynoecium incurved, ovules 46–70;

ovary glabrate, sometimes becoming hairy after fertilization;

style stout.

monosymmetric;

calyx usually pale green or pinkish, rarely yellow;

corolla yellow, longest petal 10.5–16 mm;

androecium heterantherous, stamens 7, staminodes 3;

anthers 3–5.1 mm, dehiscing by 1 apical pore, apical appendage 0;

gynoecium linear, ovules 20–28;

ovary densely hairy;

style incurved.

Legumes

pendulous, flat, straight, 220–370 × 80–140 mm, woody, indehiscent or splitting transversely into woody segments.

erect, flat, straight, 30–65 × 5–9 mm, shallowly corrugated over seeds, dehiscent.

Seeds

reddish brown, obovoid to oblong-obovoid.

brown, obovoid or oblong-obovoid.

2n

= 28.

Senna atomaria

Senna lindheimeriana

Phenology Flowering late winter–late spring. Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Disturbed habitats. Stony hillsides, desert washes, Larrea scrub, mesquite grasslands, chaparral.
Elevation 0–20 m. (0–100 ft.) 0–1900(–2100) m. (0–6200(–6900) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; Mexico (Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, México, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán); Central America (including Caribbean Islands); South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela) [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

As with other trees from deciduous and semi-deciduous vegetation, Senna atomaria is covered with flowers before developing the foliage (H. S. Irwin and R. C. Barneby 1982). In the flora area, it occurs naturalized only very locally in Collier County (R. P. Wunderlin et al., http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Caesalpinioideae (excluding Mimosoid clade) > Senna Fabaceae > subfam. Caesalpinioideae (excluding Mimosoid clade) > Senna
Sibling taxa
S. alata, S. armata, S. artemisioides, S. bauhinioides, S. corymbosa, S. covesii, S. durangensis, S. hebecarpa, S. hirsuta, S. ligustrina, S. lindheimeriana, S. marilandica, S. mexicana, S. multiglandulosa, S. obtusifolia, S. occidentalis, S. orcuttii, S. pendula, S. pilosior, S. pumilio, S. ripleyana, S. roemeriana, S. surattensis, S. wislizeni
S. alata, S. armata, S. artemisioides, S. atomaria, S. bauhinioides, S. corymbosa, S. covesii, S. durangensis, S. hebecarpa, S. hirsuta, S. ligustrina, S. marilandica, S. mexicana, S. multiglandulosa, S. obtusifolia, S. occidentalis, S. orcuttii, S. pendula, S. pilosior, S. pumilio, S. ripleyana, S. roemeriana, S. surattensis, S. wislizeni
Synonyms Cassia atomaria, C. emarginata Cassia lindheimeriana, Earleocassia lindeheimeriana
Name authority (Linnaeus) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 588. (1982) (Scheele) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Phytologia 44: 500. (1979)
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