Senna petersiana

Senna petersiana (Bolle) Lock (Cassia petersiana Bolle)

Common names

Eared Senna (English); kafungu-nasha, mukupa-chiwa, musambamfwa (Bemba); mbangozi (Kunda); kusandore, mtanta-nyelele, mbweba-nyani, mdyapumwa, mpatsa-chokolo, mpika-maunga, mtelevele, mwandu-zulala, ntanda-nyerere, ntewelewe, nembe-nembe.

General description and distinguishing characteristics

Senna petersiana is a small to medium-sized tree up to 12 m in height. It is most easily recognised by its yellow flowers, flattened, brown/black pods, and its persistent, ear-shaped stipules on the branchlets. Bark grey-brown, rough and fissured. Leaves compound, paripinnate with a conical gland between each pair of leaflets. Ear-like stipules often present on branchlets. Leaflets in 4-10 pairs, ovate to lanceolate, 2.5-5.5 x 1-3 cm, glossy green above, velvety beneath, apex attenuate and base rounded or tapering. Flowers yellow, showy, up to 3.5 cm in diameter, produced in large terminal sprays up to 20 x 25 cm (March-May). Fruit a strap-like, flattened, dark brown to black, minutely hairy pod with sutured edges, up to 16 x 1 cm, constricted between the seed (ripe September-October).

Range and habitat

Senna petersiana occurs throughout eastern and south eastern Africa from Sudan to South Africa. In the Luangwa Valley it is found in Combretum-Terminalia woodland and Hill miombo woodland.