Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Senna pendula var. glabrata (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby


Weed
Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Vine
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Leaves, Flowers and fruit. © CSIRO
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Vine stem bark and vine stem transverse section. © CSIRO
Family

Irwin, H.S. & Barneby, R.C. (1982) Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 35 : 382.

Common name

Easter Cassia; Valamuerto; Cassia, EAster

Stem

Vine stem diameters to 3 cm recorded. Blaze odour unpleasant, perhaps resembling that of rotten tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum).

Leaves

Compound leaves usually with 6-8 leaflets. Leaflet blades about 1.5-4 x 1.5-2.5 cm, leaflet stalks about 2 mm long, swollen and transversely wrinkled. Lateral veins forming loops well inside the blade margin. Stipules caducous.

Flowers

Flowers about 20 mm diam. at anthesis. Calyx lobes about 9-10 mm long. Petals about 12-15 mm long. Stamens seven, staminodes three. Stamens consist of the following: 2 long anthers on long filaments, one long anther on a short filament and four shorter anthers on short filaments.

Fruit

Pods cylindrical, about 8.5-15 x 1.3 cm, seeds numerous, arranged transversely like biscuits in a packet. Seeds flattened, orbicular, about 4-6 mm diam. Cotyledons +/- orbicular, about 4-5 mm diam., notched at the base at the point of attachment. Radicle about 0.7-1 mm long.

Seedlings

Cotyledons +/- orbicular, about 11-20 x 8.5-20 mm, +/- 3-veined with the main lateral veins joining bifurcating branches from the midrib near the apex. Petioles about 1.5 mm long. First leaves pinnate with 4 leaflets, leaflet blades elliptic to obovate, very pale on the underside. A raised gland normally visible on the upper surface of the compound leaf rhachis between the lowermost pair of leaflets. Stipules about 1-2 mm long. At the tenth leaf stage: leaflets 4 or 6 per compound leaf, leaflet blades elliptic to obovate, apex obtuse and apiculate, base obtuse and oblique. Leaflet blades soft, much paler on the underside. A finger-like or club-shaped gland usually present on the upper surface of the compound leaf rhachis just above the point of attachment of the basal pair of leaflets. Stipules filiform, about 1.5 mm long. Roots black. Seed germination time 10 to 18 days.

Distribution and Ecology

An introduced species originally from Brazil. naturalised in NEQ, CEQ and also occurs from south eastern Queensland, to coastal central New South Wales. Altitudinal range in NEQ not known but a couple of specimens have been collected at altitudes of 700-800 m. Grows in disturbed rain forest and along road clearings in rain forest in the Atherton area.

Synonyms
Cassia indecora var. glabrata Vogel, Gen. Cass. Syn. : 19(1837), Type: In Brasilia: Sellow legit pr. Ypanema (Sao Paulo); neo: K. Fide H. S. Irwin & R. C. Barneby !1982) Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 382. Cassia coluteoides Collad., Histoire Naturelle et Medicale des Casses : 102(1816), Type: Cultivated at Montpellier from stock from Lisbon; lecto: MPU. Fide H. S. Irwin & R. C. Barneby (1982) Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35:382.
RFK Code
2197
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