Senna barronfieldii
Southern Cassia
Southern Cassia
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Rosids > Fabales > Family > Fabaceae > Caesalpinioideae > Senna barronfieldii
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Overview:
Senna barronfieldii, commonly known as southern cassia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia
It is an erect shrub with more or less glabrous, pinnate leaves with eight to thirteen pairs of lance-shaped or elliptic leaflets, and yellow flowers in groups of three to five
Common name: Southern Cassia
Conservation status: . . .
Etymology:
The genus name derives from the Arabic sanā, describing plants whose leaves and pods have cathartic and laxative properties
The specific epithet (barronfieldii) honours Barron Field
Flowers
The flowers are yellow and arranged in upper leaf axils in groups of three to five on a peduncle 30–90 mm long, each flower on a pedicel 10–20 mm long
The petals are 12–20 mm long and there are ten fertile stamens, the anthers 4–6 mm long
Flowering occurs in spring and summer, and the fruit is a more or less flattened pod 80–120 mm long
Fruit:
Leaves:
Its leaves are pinnate, 80–150 mm long on a petiole 6–14 mm long, with eight to thirteen pairs of lance-shaped or elliptic leaflets
These are 10–30 mm long and 5–10 mm wide
There is are several stalked glands between each pair of leaflets
Stem & branches:
Roots:
Habit:
An erect shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 2.5 m.
Habitat:
Forest, the edges of rainforest and in subtropical rainforest
Distribution:
Endemic eastern Queensland and in eastern NSW as far south as Bega
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1826 by Luigi Aloysius Colla who gave it the name Cassia barronfieldii in his Hortus Ripulensis
In 2005, Helen Joan Hewson transferred the species to Senna as Senna barronfieldii in the journal Telopea
Sources of information: