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climbing cassia, valamuerto

Coues' cassia, Coves' cassia, desert 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.
Racemes

(2–)4–8-flowered;

bracts caducous.

Pedicels

8–17 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.

Legumes

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

Seeds

brown, rhomboid.

Senna

pendula is often confused with close relative S. bicapsularis, which is absent from North America and has shorter pedicels, only to 5 mm (H.

s

. Irwin and R.

c

.

Barneby

1982;

B.

Marazzi

et al.

2006b

).

Senna pendula

Senna covesii

Phenology Flowering late winter–early fall.
Habitat Sandy and gravelly desert washes, slopes, and stony hills, disturbed desert roadsides.
Elevation 0–1200 m. (0–3900 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced, Florida; introduced also in Africa (South Africa), Pacific Islands, Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; NV; Mexico (Baja California, Sinaloa, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 18–20 (1 in the flora).

(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. covesii, S. durangensis, S. hebecarpa, S. hirsuta, S. ligustrina, S. lindheimeriana, S. marilandica, S. mexicana, S. multiglandulosa, S. obtusifolia, S. occidentalis, S. orcuttii, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
S. pendula var. glabrata
Synonyms Cassia pendula, Chamaefistula pendula Cassia covesii, Earleocassia covesii
Name authority (Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 378. (1982) (A. Gray) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Phytologia 44: 499. (1979)
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