CASSIA senna var. senna [family LEGUMINOSAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE]

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (1967) Author: J. P. M. Brenan
Names
CASSIA senna var. senna [family LEGUMINOSAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE], ; Brenan in K.B. 13: 243 (1958)
CASSIA angustifolia Vahl [family LEGUMINOSAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE], Symb. Bot. 1: 29 (1790); Tschirch, Handb. Pharmakognose 2(2): 1408–1412 (1917); L.T.A.: 637 (1930). Type: Yemen, Forsskål (C, holo.. BM, iso. !)
CASSIA acutifolia Del. [family LEGUMINOSAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE], Fl. Aegypt. Ill.: 61, t. 27 (1813); L.T.A.: 637 (1930). Type: from Egypt, whereabouts uncertain, ? at P
Information
Leaflets mostly narrowed to an acute or subacute apex, with a distinct slender mucro 0.5–1 mm. long. Pedicels glabrous to sparingly pubescent. Pods sparingly puberulous or pubescent.
Range
DISTR. K7 in the N. extending from the central Sahara (Silet) eastwards to Arabia and India, southwards in Africa to the Sudan Republic, Eritrea, French Somaliland, Somali Republic (N.) and (? introduced) in Mozambiquie
Distribution
KENYA Kilifi, Mfumbini beach, 27 Sept. 1945, Jeffery 329 !
Notes
This species in a wide sense, but particularly var. senna, is the main source of the well-known medicine of that name. The status of the plant in East Africa is quite uncertain; it may well be an introduction (it has been cultivated at Amani). The solitary specimen from the Flora area is thinly appressed-puberulous, with narrow very acute leaflets up to about 4–5 cm. long and 6–7 mm. wide, and slightly falcate pods about 3.5–5 cm. long and 1.7–1.9 cm. wide.
CASSIA senna var. senna [family LEGUMINOSAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE]
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