Compilation
Cassia floribunda

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Name

Identification
Cassia floribunda Cav. [family LEGUMINOSAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE ] Verified by Lass, Isotype of Cassia laevigata Willd. [family LEGUMINOSAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE ] Verified by Barneby, Senna pendula Willd. [family LEGUMINOSAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Irwin, H.S.; Barneby,
Related name
  • Senna floribunda
  • Cassia laevigata
  • Cassia floribunda
  • Cassia quadrangularis
  • Senna pendula
  • Cassia unrecorded
  • Senna septemtrionalis
  • Adipera bicolor

Flora

Entry for Cassia floribunda [family FABACEAE]
Herbarium
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Compton Herbarium, Cape Town (SAM)
Collection
Flora of Southern Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of South Africa, (2003) Author: Dr J.P. Roux
Names
Cassia floribunda [family FABACEAE]
Common names
C. laevigata Willd., Enum. Hort. Berol. 441 (1809); Benth. in Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 27 : 527 (1871); Oliv. in F.T.A. 2 : 274 (1871); Forbes in S. Afr. J. Sci. 18 : 343 (1922); Bak. f„ Leg. Trop. Afr. 3 : 634 (1930); Burtt Davy, Fl. Transv. 2 : 324(1932); Henkel, Woody PI. Natal 221 (1934); Steyaert in F.C.B. 3 : 511 (1952). Type: cultivated in Berlin Bot. Garden (? B-W, holo.).
Information
Short-lived perennial sub-shrub, shrub, or treelet with erect stem branching in the upper half to form an irregular to ± rounded crown, l-2(-4) m high. Stems terete, glabrous. Leaves: petiole and rhachis 6,5-10 (-19) cm long: stipules linear, acute, up to 10 mm long, 1-1,5 mm wide, glabrous caducous; petiole (2,5-)3-4,5 cm long including basal pulvinus, petiolar gland lacking; rhachis channelled adaxially, with a sub-sessile cylindric, elliptic or obovate, dark gland between each pair of leaflets, or sometimes excluding the uppermost; leaflets in (2-)3-4 pairs, elliptic or ovate, (2,5-)5-7,5(-10,5) cm long (l,5-)2-3,5 cm wide, uppermost pair largest, bases broadly cuneate, often slightly asymmetric, apices narrowing suddenly into a short or long narrowly acute to acuminate apex, margins yellow, glabrous, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences in axils of upper leaves, racemes ± corymbose, 6-10 cm long, forming a pseudo-panicle distally on branches; peduncles, at flowering, 2,5-5,5 cm long, at fruiting, generally 3-4(-6,5) cm long; bracts ± 5 mm long, ±1,5 mm wide, resembling stipules; pedicels, at flowering, 0,7-1,3 mm long
Habitat
The species is easily recognized by the glabrous, herbaceous texture of the plant; the leaves with usually 3 or 4 pairs of rather large elliptic or ovate, acute to acuminate leaflets with a rhachidal gland between each pair, sometimes excepting the upper­most; the brilliant yellow flowers and the cylindric, more or less inflated, internally septate pods that are tardily dehiscent.
Use
8. Cassia floribunda Cav., Descr. 132 (1802); Sim. For. Fl. Cape Col. 207 (1907); Brenan in F.T.E.A. Legum.-Caesalp. : 70 (1967). Type: cultivated in Madrid Bot. Garden, originally from Mexico, Puebla de los Angeles. Whereabouts unknown.
Range
This native American species is now pantropic in distribution. In the Flora area it is probably the most widespread, frequent and best known of the natura­lized Cassias. Plants are weeds that establish them­selves in disturbed areas along roadsides, in forest margins, along streambanks, in alluvial sand or silt, in neglected gardens or in fallow lands; occasionally they occur as undergrowth plants in plantations of eucalypts or wattles in particular.

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