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Argentine senna

woolly senna, woolly wild sensitive-plant

Habit Shrubs or trees, to 3.5 m. Leaves mesophyllous, 5.5–9.5 cm, glabrous or glabrate; stipules caducous; extrafloral nectary 1, between first leaflet pair, sessile or short-stipitate; leaflet pairs 3, blades oblong-lanceolate, 25–60 × 5–14 mm.
Racemes

4–18-flowered;

bracts caducous.

Pedicels

13–23 mm.

Flowers

monosymmetric;

calyx brownish to greenish yellow;

corolla golden yellow, longest petal 8–16 mm;

androecium heterantherous, stamens 7, middle stamens 1/2 as long as abaxial or smaller, staminodes 3;

anthers of middle stamens to 3.6–4.8 mm, of abaxial stamens 5.2–6.5 mm, dehiscing by nearly U-shaped pore, apical appendage inconspicuous;

gynoecium incurved, ovules 34–50;

ovary hairy;

style slightly incurved.

Legumes

somewhat pendulous, cylindrical, straight, 40–120 × 6–10 mm, corrugated over seeds, indehiscent.

Seeds

dull brown or dark reddish brown, obliquely obovoid or oblong-ellipsoid.

2n

= 28.

Senna corymbosa

Senna hirsuta

Phenology Flowering early winter–mid spring.
Habitat Thickets, brushy stream and river banks, waste places.
Elevation 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX; s South America
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
sw United States; Mexico; South America; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands; Australia; worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Senna corymbosa has been cultivated for over two centuries and is a common ornamental in many botanical gardens worldwide; it has become naturalized in warmer western Europe and South Africa (H. S. Irwin and R. C. Barneby 1982).

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

Varieties 7 (1 in the flora).

Recent molecular phylogenetic analyses of Senna hirsuta (B. Marazzi et al. 2006; Marazzi and M. J. Sanderson 2010) suggest that this species is paraphyletic and may actually represent more than one species.

(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. atomaria, S. bauhinioides, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
S. hirsuta var. glaberrima
Synonyms Cassia corymbosa, Adipera corymbosa Cassia hirsuta, Ditremexa hirsuta
Name authority (Lamarck) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 397. (1982) (Linnaeus) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Phytologia 44: 499. (1979)
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