Senna costata is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with pinnate leaves with four or five pairs of narrowly elliptic leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in pairs or groups of five to eight, with ten fertile stamens in each flower.
| Senna costata | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Caesalpinioideae |
| Genus: | Senna |
| Species: | S. costata
|
| Binomial name | |
| Senna costata | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Description
editSenna costata is a shrub or small tree that typically grows to a height of 0.6–3 m (2 ft 0 in – 9 ft 10 in), its stems and foliage softly-hairy. The leaves are pinnate, 40–60 mm (1.6–2.4 in) long on a petiole up to 20 mm (0.79 in) long with four or five pairs of narrowly elliptic leaflets 20–40 mm (0.79–1.57 in) long and 3–8 mm (0.12–0.31 in) wide. The flowers are yellow and arranged in upper leaf axils in groups of five to eight on a peduncle 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) long, each flower on a pedicel 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) long. The petals are 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) long and there are ten fertile stamens, the anthers about 3 mm (0.12 in) long. Flowering occurs in winter and spring, and the fruit is a flat pod 70–80 mm (2.8–3.1 in) long, 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) wide and usually curved.[2][3]
Taxonomy
editThis species was first formally described in 1915 by John Frederick Bailey and Cyril Tenison White who gave it the name Cassia costata in the Queensland Agricultutal Journal from specimens collected by Ernest Walter Bick near Woolgar, north of Richmond in 1915.[4][5] In 1989, Barbara Rae Randell reclassified the species as Senna costata in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden.[6] The specific epithet (costata) means "ribbed", referring to the stems of this species.[7]
Distribution and habitat
editSenna costata grows on pindan plains in grassy woodland in northern Western Australia, the Northern Territory and northern Queensland.[2][3][8]
References
edit- ^ a b "Senna costata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Senna costata". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Senna costata". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ "Cassia costata". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ Bailey, John F.; White, Cyril T. (1915). "Botany. Contributions to the Flora of Queensland". Queensland Agricultural Journal Series 2. 4: 287–288. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ "Senna costata". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 171. ISBN 9780958034180.
- ^ "Senna costata". Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 14 June 2023.