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Senna obtusifolia

(L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (1982)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Rosids Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Genus: Senna

habucha

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Annual or perennial herbs (1–)3–12(–20) dm tall, sometimes somewhat woody toward base.

Stems:

Roots: Roots black with yellow tips.

Leaves: Leaves compound. Alternate. Leaflets 3 pairs, opposite, the distal ones larger, broadly obovate to cuneate–obovate, 1.7–6.5 cm long, 1–4 cm wide. Leaflet apices subtruncate to broadly rounded, apiculate. Leaflet bases with 1 side rounded to cordate, the other cuneate. Leaflet surfaces glabrous or pubescent. Leaflet margins ciliate. Petiolate; petiolar nectaries between the lower and occasionally the second pair of leaflets, 1–3 mm long. Stipules linear, 3.5–17 mm long, caducous.

Flowers: Flowers 1–2 in the leaf axils, in racemes. Flowers caesalpinaceous. Pedicels filiform at anthesis, greatly thickened in fruit, 7–23 mm long, bracts ovate or lanceolate, 2–5 mm long, deciduous; bracteoles absent. Calyx lobes pale green, inner ones obovate or oblong–obovate, 5.5–9.5 mm long, lobes 5, imbricate. Corolla of 5 petals, pale yellow, the standard obcordate or cuneate–obcordate, the others oblong–ovate, the longest one 9–15 mm long. Filaments of 4 median Stamens 1–3 mm long, those of 3 abaxial Stamens 1.5–4.5 mm long, straight, shorter than to not more than twice as long as the anthers; fertile anthers, basifixed, usually modified into sets of 4 median and abaxial anthers. Ovary superior.

Fruit: Pods ascending; chartaceous; linear; compressed; 4–angled; usually curved or sometimes almost straight; attenuate at both ends; 6–18 cm long; 0.2–0.6 cm wide; tardily dehiscent by both sutures; the cavity with well–developed interseminal septa. Seeds brown and glossy; obliquely descending; compressed–rhomboid or irregular; sometimes subcylindrical in narrow fruit; 3.2–6 mm long; crackled with age; the areole 2.5–4.2 mm long.

Ploidy: 2n = 24; 26; 28

Habitat:

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Naturalized

Island Status

O'ahu Naturalized
Lana'i Naturalized
Hawai'i Naturalized

Dispersal Agents

Water/Ocean
Other Animals

Pollinators

Specimens

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Notes

  • Description digitized by Alyssa Larson
  • Description digitized from the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii
  • Present at early as 1960 on the Greenwell Ranch, Hawaii
  • Roasted seeds are used for tea by the Japanese

Bibliography

Name Published In: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 252 (1982)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:700 (H); Staples et al. 2003:12 (O); Oppenheimer 2011:7 (L); Sakimura s.n. BISH 450023 (O†, 1945)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Description Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
1 Senna obtusifolia Kailua; edge of Kaelepulu Pond west margin Preserved_Specimen Neal, M.C. Oahu BISH 1940-06-11
2 Senna obtusifolia Honolulu, 3398 Winam Ave Preserved_Specimen Sakimura, K. Oahu BISH 1945-10-22
3 Senna obtusifolia Kealakekua, Greenwell Ranch Preserved_Specimen Akira Hawaii BISH 1960-10-18
4 Senna obtusifolia Kaneohe Community Gardens. Preserved_Specimen Cultivated. Small shrub 18 inches tall with spreading branches. Pods sickle-shaped, containing numerous small seeds. Grown from seeds from Japan. Nagata, K.M. 4329 Oahu BISH 1994-06-14
5 Senna obtusifolia Kealakekua, Greenwell Ranch Preserved_Specimen Akira Hawaii BISH 1960-10-18
6 Senna obtusifolia Keomuku Rd, Nahoko Locally common growing in sandy soil at edge of unpaved rd and dense Prosopis thickets. Preserved_Specimen Yellow fowered herbs. Oppenheimer, H.L. 10919 Lanai BISH 2009-01-20
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