Senna multijuga, commonly known as November shower or false sicklepod, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae.[3] It is native to wet tropical areas of Latin America, and widely introduced to other tropical locales such as Africa, India, Indonesia, China, Australia, and Hawaii.[2][4] A fast-growing tree typically 10 m (33 ft) tall, it is planted in restoration projects, as an ornamental, and as a street tree, being especially useful under power lines.[5]
| Senna multijuga | |
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| In Hawaii | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Caesalpinioideae |
| Genus: | Senna |
| Species: | S. multijuga
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| Binomial name | |
| Senna multijuga | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
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List
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Description
editSenna multijuga is a tree that typically grows to a height of up to 10 m (33 ft), sometimes to 40 m (130 ft) and sometimes flowering precociously as a shrub only 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high. The leaves are pinnate with 10 to 37 pairs of linear to elliptic leaflets 15–45 mm (0.59–1.77 in) long and 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) wide. There are linear or bristle-like stipules 4–12 mm (0.16–0.47 in) long at the base. There is a pair of glands between the lowest pairs of leaflets, but that fall off as the leaves open. The flowers are yellow and arranged on the ends of branchlets in racemes of three to sixteen panicles, the lowest panicles with at least five flowers. Each panicle is on a peduncle 10–45 mm (0.39–1.77 in) long, each flower on a pedicel 13–32 mm (0.51–1.26 in) long. The five petals are 7–21 mm (0.28–0.83 in) long but differ from each other. The seven fertile stamens vary in length from 4.5 to 9 mm (0.18 to 0.35 in) long and there are three tiny staminodes. Flowering occurs from late summer to early autumn, and the fruit is a broadly linear pod 65–200 mm (2.6–7.9 in) long and 13–25 mm (0.51–0.98 in) wide containing thirty to sixty flattened seeds about 6 mm (0.24 in) long.[3][6]
Taxonomy
editThis species was first formally described in 1792 by Louis Claude Richard who gave it the name Cassia multijuga in his Actes de la Societe D' Histoire Naturelle de Paris.[7][8] In 1982, Howard Samuel Irwin and Rupert Charles Barneby transferred the species to the genus Senna as S. multijuga in Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden.[2]
Subtaxa
editThe following subtaxa are accepted:[2]
- Senna multijuga subsp. doylei (Britton & Rose) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – southwestern Mexico
- Senna multijuga subsp. lindleyana (Gardner) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil
- Senna multijuga subsp. multijuga – entire range, introduced to Old World Tropics
- Senna multijuga var. peregrinatrix H.S.Irwin & Barneby – Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil
- Senna multijuga var. verrucosa (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby – eastern Brazil
Distribution and habitat
editSenna multijuga grows in disturbed forest, along watercourse and in gallery forest within savannah. It is native to northern parts of South America, and possibly Mexico, but is naturalised in many other countries, including India, parts of Southeast Asia and Africa, New Guinea and Australia.[2][3] In Australia, it is restricted to Bellingen and Thora.[6][9]
References
edit- ^ Machuca Machuca, K.; Martínez Salas, E.; Samain, M.-S. (2022). "Hormiguerillo Senna multijuga". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T62527A200815987. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T62527A200815987.en. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f "Senna multijuga (Rich.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
- ^ a b c Datiles, M. J.; Acevedo-Rodrígue, P. (2022). "Senna multijuga (November shower)". CABI Compendium. doi:10.1079/cabicompendium.49589.
Preferred Common Name; November shower ... Common Names; false sicklepod, golden shower
- ^ Ossola, Alessandro; Hoeppner, Malin J.; Burley, Hugh M.; Gallagher, Rachael V.; Beaumont, Linda J.; Leishman, Michelle R. (2020). "The Global Urban Tree Inventory: A database of the diverse tree flora that inhabits the world's cities". Global Ecology and Biogeography. 29 (11): 1907–1914. doi:10.1111/geb.13169. S2CID 225429443.
- ^ Fern, Ken (20 July 2022). "Useful Tropical Plants – Senna multijuga (Rich.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby Fabaceae". tropical.theferns.info. Tropical Plants Database. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
- ^ a b "Senna multijuga". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
- ^ Richard, Louis Claude (1792). Actes de la Societe D' Histoire Naturelle de Paris. Vol. 1. Paris: Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. p. 108. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ "Cassia multijuga". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
- ^ Hosking, John R.; Conn, Barry J.; Lepschi, Brendan J.; Barker, Clive H. (2007). "Plant species first recognised as naturalised for New South Wales in 2002 and 2003, with additional comments on species recognised as naturalised in 2000–2001". Cunninghamia. 10 (1): 152. Retrieved 11 August 2023.