Senna pendula
Senna alata
climbing cassia, valamuerto
candle bush, candlestick senna, Emperor's candlesticks
40+-flowered, spikelike, bearing flowers in conelike head, often apparently terminal;
bracts conspicuous, covering buds, caducous as pedicel elongates, firm, yellow to light orange, 10+ mm.
4–11 mm.
asymmetric (enantiostylous);
calyx yellow;
corolla bright yellow to yellow-orange, bowl-shaped, petals monosymmetric, lower and upper petals similar in shape, firm, strongly concave, longest petal 15–24 mm;
androecium heterantherous, stamens 7, staminodes 3;
anthers of middle stamens 2.6–4 mm, of abaxial stamens 9.5–13 mm, dehiscing by 1 or 2 short slits, apical appendage 0;
gynoecium incurved, ovules 44–58;
ovary densely hairy;
style incurved.
ascending, flat, straight or slightly curved, tetragonal, 110–190 × 9–12 mm, carinate by sutures and winged along middle of each valve, tardily dehiscent.
dark brown, rhomboid.
pendula is often confused with close relative S. bicapsularis, which is absent from North America and has shorter pedicels, only to 5 mm (H.
. Irwin and R.
.
1982;
B.
et al.
).
= 24.
Senna pendula
Senna alata
Varieties 18–20 (1 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Due to its attractive candlelike yellow inflorescences, Senna alata has been cultivated worldwide. In addition to its laxative properties, S. alata, sometimes called ringworm senna or ringworm bush, may be useful as a treatment for ringworm and other fungal infections (S. Palanichamy and S. Nagarajan 1990; H. Martin and M’P. Bindanda 2008). Likely native to tropical northern South America (H. S. Irwin and R. C. Barneby 1981), S. alata is now naturalized and listed as weedy in many countries outside the flora area (W. T. Parsons and E. G. Cuthbertson 2001; Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/senna_alata.htm).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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