Senna covesii |
Senna artemisioides |
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Coues' cassia, Coves' cassia, desert senna |
silver senna |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, to 0.7 m. Leaves slightly sclerophyllous, 2–10 cm, hairy; stipules persistent, to 1 mm wide; extrafloral nectaries between all leaflet pairs, stipitate; leaflet pairs 2–4, blades obovate to elliptic-obovate or oblong-elliptic, 10–38 × 5–19 mm. | Shrubs, to 3 m. Leaves slightly to highly xerophytic as phyllodes, 0.8–5 cm, finely hairy; stipules caducous; extrafloral nectaries 1–8, between first leaflet pair, sometimes also 1 or all subsequent pairs, sessile; leaflet pairs 0–8, blades linear to narrowly elliptic, 20–70 × 1–8 mm. |
Racemes | (2–)4–8-flowered; bracts caducous. |
2–10-flowered; bracts early caducous. |
Pedicels | 8–17 mm. |
4–15 mm. |
Flowers | monosymmetric; calyx pale green, pinkish, or yellowish; corolla golden yellow, longest petal 9–15 mm; androecium not heterantherous, stamens 7, staminodes 3; anthers 2.5–4.2 mm, dehiscing by 1 apical pore, apical appendage 0; gynoecium linear, slightly incurved, ovules 28–42; ovary hairy; style filiform, incurved. |
slightly asymmetric, enantiostylous; calyx yellowish to greenish; corolla yellow, longest petal 6–10 mm; androecium not heterantherous, stamens 10, staminodes 0; anthers 1.5–5 mm, dehiscing by 2 pores, apical appendage 0; gynoecium incurved, ovules unknown; ovary slightly hairy; style slightly incurved. |
Legumes | erect, cylindrical, slightly curved, 180–350 × 50–80 mm, shallowly corrugated over seeds, dehiscing apically downward. |
pendulous, flat, straight or slightly curved, 20–80 × 6–12 mm, corrugated over seeds, indehiscent. |
Seeds | brown, rhomboid. |
dark brown or dull, obovoid. |
2n | = 28, 56. |
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Senna covesii |
Senna artemisioides |
|
Phenology | Flowering late winter–early fall. | Flowering late fall–early spring. |
Habitat | Sandy and gravelly desert washes, slopes, and stony hills, disturbed desert roadsides. | Rocky and desert sand and soils. |
Elevation | 0–1200 m. (0–3900 ft.) | 0–700 m. (0–2300 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NM; NV; Mexico (Baja California, Sinaloa, Sonora)
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AZ; CA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Due to its remarkable morphological and genetic variation (especially in leaflet number and form), Senna artemisioides has a shifting taxonomic history. The species, as circumscribed by Randell, was divided into several morphological forms by B. R. Randell and B. A. Barlow (1998). Senna artemisioides, as presented here, encompasses four common morphological forms found in North America: subsp. filifolia Randell, subsp. petiolaris Randell, nothosubsp. sturtii (R. Brown) Randell, and subsp. zygophylla Randell. D. E. Symon (1998) considered individuals of subsp. petiolaris characterized by arcuate phyllodes to be a separate species, S. phyllodinea (R. Brown) Symon, mainly because of the absence of individuals with an intermediate leaf morphology transitioning to the phyllode shape. Although this argument is reasonable, S. phyllodinea has not been accepted and adopted in other floristic studies. It must be noted that phyllodes consist of the lateral compression of both the petiole and the rachis, and not only of the petiole, as reported by Randell and Barlow. Along the adaxial margin of the phyllode, there is, in fact, a reduced extrafloral nectary at each insertion place of the suppressed leaflets. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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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 | ||
Synonyms | Cassia covesii, Earleocassia covesii | Cassia artemisioides |
Name authority | (A. Gray) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Phytologia 44: 499. (1979) | (Gaudichaud-Beaupré ex de Candolle) Randell: J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 12: 220. (1989) |
Web links |