The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Coues' cassia, Coves' cassia, desert senna

buttercup bush, glandular cassia, glandular senna

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 or trees, to 5(–6) m. Leaves mesophyllous, 6–17.5 cm, finely and densely hairy; stipules caducous; extrafloral nectaries 1, between many or all leaflet pairs, sessile; leaflet pairs 5–9, blades oblong-elliptic or lanceolate- to oblanceolate-elliptic, 23–47 × 6–17 mm.
Racemes

(2–)4–8-flowered;

bracts caducous.

usually 3–15-flowered;

bracts caducous.

Pedicels

8–17 mm.

12–26 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.

monosymmetric;

calyx yellow;

corolla deep yellow, longest petal 12–19 mm;

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

anthers of middle stamens 3.7–5 mm, of abaxial stamens 6–7.5 mm, dehiscing by 2 pores, apical appendage inconspicuous;

gynoecium incurved, ovules 30–50;

ovary densely hairy;

style slightly incurved.

Legumes

erect, cylindrical, slightly curved, 180–350 × 50–80 mm, shallowly corrugated over seeds, dehiscing apically downward.

somewhat pendulous, cylindrical, 70–135 × 7–10 mm, slightly corrugated over seeds, indehiscent.

Seeds

brown, rhomboid.

brown or dark reddish brown, obovoid.

2n

= 24.

Senna covesii

Senna multiglandulosa

Phenology Flowering late winter–early fall. Flowering late spring–mid winter.
Habitat Sandy and gravelly desert washes, slopes, and stony hills, disturbed desert roadsides. Open places in disturbed forests or scrub-woodlands, lava-flows, rocky riverbanks and outcrops, waste places.
Elevation 0–1200 m. (0–3900 ft.) 0–500[2000–3100] m. (0–1600[6600–10200] ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; NV; Mexico (Baja California, Sinaloa, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Chiapas, Guanajuato, México, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosí); Central America (Guatemala); w South America [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia (India, Malaysia), s Africa, Atlantic Islands (Macaronesia), Pacific Islands (Hawaii, New Caledonia, New Zealand), Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Senna multiglandulosa is listed as naturalized in countries where it has been introduced as an ornamental; for example, New Zealand (C. J. Webb et al. 1988); Australia (B. R. Randell and B. A. Barlow 1998).

(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. corymbosa, 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. lindheimeriana, S. marilandica, S. mexicana, S. obtusifolia, S. occidentalis, S. orcuttii, S. pendula, S. pilosior, S. pumilio, S. ripleyana, S. roemeriana, S. surattensis, S. wislizeni
Synonyms Cassia covesii, Earleocassia covesii Cassia multiglandulosa, C. tomentosa
Name authority (A. Gray) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Phytologia 44: 499. (1979) (Jacquin) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 357. (1982)
Web links