Cassia queenslandica C.T.White

White, C.T. (1939) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 50: 74. Type: Mount Molloy, E. Fryer (type: flowers and pods), Sept., 1936.

Yellow Shower

Blaze odour may resemble that of bacon.

Leafy twigs usually longitudinally grooved. Compound leaf rhachis grooved on the upper surface. Leaflet blades about 2-6.5 x 1.5-2.5 cm.

Petals about 12-15 mm long. Fertile stamens seven. Staminal filaments swollen about the middle on three stamens in each flower. Ovary hairy.

Pods 30 cm or more long, moniliform, +/- circular in transverse section.

Cotyledons linear-ovate, about 10-12 x 5 mm. First pair of true leaves with six opposite leaflets and stipules about 1 mm long. Stem between the cotyledons and first pair of leaves clothed in short erect white hairs. At the tenth leaf stage: compound leaf petiole hairy, stalks and upper surface of leaflets hairy (mainly along the midrib); leaflets ovate; stipules very small, linear. Seed germination time 18 to 162 days.

Endemic to NEQ, restricted in distribution between Cooktown and Cairns. Altitudinal range from about sea level to 440 m. Grows in well developed rain forest but probably more characteristic of rain forest margins.

Food plant for the larval stages of the Lemon Migrant Butterfly. Common & Waterhouse (1981).

A tree of high horticultural potential because of the pendulous inflorescences of yellow flowers.