Compilation
Cassia hirsuta

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Name

Identification
Cassia hirsuta L. [family FABACEAE ] (stored under name);
Related name
  • Cassia aurantia
  • Senna hirsuta
  • Cassia glandulosa
  • `
  • Cassia tomentosa
  • Senna aurantia
  • Cassia procumbens
  • Cassia venenifera
  • Cassia hirsuta
Common name
  • hairy cassia., Burkill, H.M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 3

Flora

Entry for Cassia hirsuta [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 hirsuta [family FABACEAE]
Common names
C. tomentosa sensu H. M. L. Forbes in S. Afr. J. Sci. 18 : 342 (1922) non L.f. (exsiccata and parts of description).
Information
Short-lived perennial shrub with erect, sparsely branched stems up to (1-) 1,5-2,7 m high. Stems ridged, villous when young with dense straight slightly upward pointing, greyish-white hairs, becoming ± densely pubescent and sometimes ± terete with age. Leaves densely villous: petiole and rhachis (8—)11—20 cm long; stipules linear, narrowly acute to acuminate, up to 15 mm long, ± 1 mm wide, sparsely villous, tardily deci­duous; petiole 2,5-4 cm long including basal pulvinus; petiolar gland at distal end of pulvinus, sessile, cylindric, finger-like, slightly narrowed at base, blackish, ± 2 mm long; rhachis without special glands; leaflets in 3-5 pairs, elliptic, occasionally ovate- elliptic or ovate, (2-)5-7,5 cm long, 1,4-4,5 cm wide, uppermost pair largest, bases asymmetric, occasionally rounded, apices acute to subacuminate, often narrowing rather sharply, margins fringed, the hairs often extending from the leaf surfaces which are ± densely villous with straight greyish-white hairs. Inflorescences in axils of middle and upper leaves, ± 3 cm long, 3-6-flowered; pedu
Habitat
Plants occur as weeds, especially near sites of human habitation where there has been destruction of the natural vegetation. They favour riparian situations where sandy alluvium has been deposited, but are also to be found in disturbed grassland or forest margin.
Use
7. Cassia hirsuta L., Sp. PI. 1 : 378 (1753); L.f., Suppl. 231 (1781); Lam. Encycl. 1,2 : 647 (1785); Steyaert in F.C.B. 3 : 513 (1952); Henderson, Malayan Wild Flowers (Dicotyledons) fig. 94, 96 (1959); Brenan, F.T.E.A. Legum.-Caesalp. : 80 (1967). Type: a cultivated plant in Herb. Clifford (BM, holo.)-
Range
Originally from South America, this species has become naturalized in parts of the Old World tropics. In Africa it is known from Guinea, Uganda, Burundi, Zaire, Tanzania, Malawi, Angola, Rhodesia and South Africa. In the Flora area it is best represented along the Natal coast having spread from Durban where it appears to have been introduced about 1893. A second point of introduction was Nelspruit, where seed from Uganda was planted in 1931; from here, also, plants have escaped from cultivation.

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