Senna pendula |
Senna orcuttii |
|
|---|---|---|
|
climbing cassia, valamuerto |
Orcutt's senna |
|
| Habit | Herbs, perennial, to 0.6 m. | |
| Leaves | slightly sclerophyllous, 5–10 cm, dull glaucescent, sparsely hairy; stipules caducous, 1–3 mm wide; extrafloral nectaries between all leaflet pairs, stipitate; leaflet pairs 3–6, blades oblong- or ovate-elliptic, 15–40 ×7–13 mm. |
|
| Racemes | usually 5–25-flowered; bracts caducous. |
|
| Pedicels | 0–5 mm. |
|
| Flowers | monosymmetric (similar to S. lindheimeriana but smaller); calyx usually pale green, rarely yellow; corolla yellow, longest petal 8–10.5 mm; androecium heterantherous, stamens 7, staminodes 3; anthers 3–5 mm, dehiscing by 1 apical pore, apical appendage 0; gynoecium linear, ovules unknown; ovary densely hairy; style incurved. |
|
| Legumes | erect, flat, straight or slightly incurved, 40–120 × 3.5–6.5 mm, shallowly corrugated over seeds, dehiscent. |
|
| Seeds | brown, obovoid or oblong-obovoid. |
|
Senna pendula |
Senna orcuttii |
|
| Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. | |
| Habitat | Stony hillsides, canyon floors. | |
| Elevation | 1300–1800 m. [4300–5900 ft.] | |
| Distribution |
Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced, Florida; introduced also in Africa (South Africa), Pacific Islands, Australia]
|
NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila) |
| Discussion | Varieties 18–20 (1 in the flora). 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). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
| Parent taxa | ||
| Sibling taxa | ||
| Subordinate taxa | ||
| Synonyms | Cassia pendula, Chamaefistula pendula | Peiranisia orcuttii, Cassia orcuttii |
| Name authority | (Humboldt & Bonpland ex Willdenow) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 378. (1982) | (Britton & Rose) H. S. Irwin & Barneby: Phytologia 44: 500. (1979) |
| Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
| Web links | ||