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climbing cassia, valamuerto

showy senna, velvet leaf senna, velvet leaf wild sensitive plant

Habit Herbs, perennial, to 1.5 m. Leaves slightly sclerophyllous, 6–16 cm, densely hairy; stipules caducous, 1–3 mm wide; extrafloral nectaries between all leaflet pairs, stipitate; leaflet pairs 4–8, blades oblong-elliptic or ovate- to obovate-elliptic, 20–50 × 8–20 mm.
Racemes

usually 5–25-flowered;

bracts caducous.

Pedicels

6–22 mm.

Flowers

monosymmetric;

calyx usually pale green or pinkish, rarely yellow;

corolla yellow, longest petal 10.5–16 mm;

androecium heterantherous, stamens 7, staminodes 3;

anthers 3–5.1 mm, dehiscing by 1 apical pore, apical appendage 0;

gynoecium linear, ovules 20–28;

ovary densely hairy;

style incurved.

Legumes

erect, flat, straight, 30–65 × 5–9 mm, shallowly corrugated over seeds, dehiscent.

Seeds

brown, obovoid or oblong-obovoid.

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

).

2n

= 28.

Senna pendula

Senna lindheimeriana

Phenology Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Stony hillsides, desert washes, Larrea scrub, mesquite grasslands, chaparral.
Elevation 0–1900(–2100) m. (0–6200(–6900) 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; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas)
[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. covesii, S. durangensis, S. hebecarpa, S. hirsuta, S. ligustrina, 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 lindheimeriana, Earleocassia lindeheimeriana
Name authority (Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 378. (1982) (Scheele) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Phytologia 44: 500. (1979)
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