Senna multijuga subsp. lindleyana (Gardner) H.S.Irwin & Barneby var. lindleyana

  • Authors

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • Authority

    Irwin, Howard S. & Barneby, Rupert C. 1982. The American Cassiinae. A synoptical revision of Leguminosae tribe Cassieae subtrib Cassiinae in the New World. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35, part 2: 455-918.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Senna multijuga subsp. lindleyana (Gardner) H.S.Irwin & Barneby var. lindleyana

  • Discussion

    161/IIa. Senna multijuga (L. C. Richard) subsp, lindleyana (Gardner) Irwin var. lindleyana. Cassia lindleyana Gardner, 1843, l.c., sens. str. sed char, mut.—Typus supra sub subsp, lindleyana indicavimus.—C. multijuga var. lindleyana (Gardner) Bentham in Martius, Fl. Bras. 15(2): 123. 1870, quoad nom., exclus. pl. Pohl.; Bentham, 1871, p. 546.

    Cassia scabrella Hoffmannsegg, Zweiter Nachtrag Verzeichn. Pflanzenkult. 81. 1826.—"Hab. in Brasilia]."—No typus known to survive, but the protologue detailed and suggestive of no other Brazilian senna.

    Cassia semifalcata Vellozo, Fl. Flumin. 167 ("semi-falcata"). 1825 & Ic. 4: t. 68. 1835.—"Habitat silvis maritimis [presumably in vicinity of Rio de Janeiro]."—No typus survives; lectoholotypus, the cited plate.—Equated with slight reservation by Bentham, 1870, p. 123, with C. multijuga sens, lat., but the figure and habitat suggest no other known cassia.

    Cassia selloi G. Don, Gen. Hist. Diehl. Pl. 2: 442. 1832.—"Native of Brazil, Sello."—Holotypus, presumably seen by Don in herb. Lambert., not found at BM or OXF (1980); presumed isotypus, K! = NY Neg. 1465.

    Cassia magnifica Martius, Flora 20, Beibl. 2 (Herb. Fl. Brazil.): 106. 1837.—"[Martius Herb.] 141 ... In silvis Capocabanae [presumably Copacabana, Guanabara, for Martius himself was in s. Minas Gerais during March and April when the plant was said to flower]."— Holotypus, collected by B. Luschnath, BR! isotypi, K = NY Neg. 1466, NY (2 sheets)!

    Cassia trachypus sensu Bentham, 1870, p. 122, pro parte, quoad Mart. Herb. 1072 ex S. Paulo.

    Cassia chrysoclada Taubert ex Glaziou, Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 53, Mem. 1(3): 167, nom. nud. 1906.—"Serra dos Orgaos, a Theresopolis, Rio-Jan., no. 8416."—Equated with C. multijuga by Harms, Fedde’s Repert. 20: 124. 1924.

    Essentially like var. multijuga in aspect, and in detail except (as noted under subsp, lindleyana supra) for the setiform stipules, the pubescence equally variable except the axes of inflorescence never setulose.

    Lfts of larger lvs 16-36(-46) pairs, the larger ones (1.8-)2-4.6 x (3.5-)4.5-13(-14) mm, (2.8-)3-5 times as long as wide, the longest interfoliolar segments of rachis (4-)5-13(-15) mm.

    Fls and pods of var. multijuga.—Collections: 93.

    Forest clearings, margins of humid woodland, often along streams, inland in gallery forest, thriving in disturbed and regenerating brush-woodland, sometimes preserved as a shade-tree in pastures and plantations, mostly 50-950 but on Sa. do Caparao ascending to 1800 and on Sa. da Caraga to 1400 m, locally plentiful along the Atlantic slope and crest of the coast ranges of s.-e. Brazil between s. Bahia and n.-e. Santa Catarina, sparingly n. (?native, in the range of S. multijuga var. verrucosa) on the coastal plain of Bahia to Ilheus and Itajuipe, inland in Sao Paulo to the headwaters of Rios Tiete and Paranapanema and in Minas Gerais to the s. Sa. do Espinhago (Catas Altas, Sabara etc.) and n. along the Velhas fork of Rio Sao Francisco to Varzea da Palma; cultivated in s. Brazilian cities and gardens (Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo), in s. California, in Fiji, and probably elsewhere in the Neotropics.—Fl. I-IV(-V), in California gardens X-XII. —Farinha senca (Minas Gerais); alleluia, amarellinho (S. Paulo).

    Cassia lindleyana was separated in the first instance from C. selloi because of the copious yellow vesture of the young branches and inflorescence and maintained by Bentham for the same reason as a variety of C. multijuga. The unnumbered variants of S. multijuga sens. lat. that differ in color and density of pubescence are here considered taxonomically (though not necessarily horticulturally) insignificant and var. lindleyana is now characterized by the coincidence of distant ample leaflets with setiform stipules. It is the south Brazilian analogue of var. multijuga and, except for stipules, essentially like it. In the part of its range that extends along the coastal ranges southwestward from the Organ Mountains var. lindleyana is sympatric with var. peregrinatrix, differing from this in the less crowded, always longer and nearly always much broader leaflets. In southern Minas Gerais, especially around Vigosa (where repeatedly collected), var. lindleyana is represented locally by a form with leaflets approaching var. peregrinatrix for narrowness but at the same time longer and more numerous. It appears strictly parallel to that form of var. multijuga with narrow leaflets that is locally dominant around Iquitos and the sources of Rio Jurua in upper Amazonia. We take this to be equivalent to C. selloi y Vogel (1837, p. 38) which seems to be represented at K by a Sello collection labelled "C. selloi var. polyphylla Vog." (nom. nud.).

    The three synonyms listed above, all based on plants from the neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, were already referred by Bentham to C. multijuga. In our account of C. trachypus, q.v., a partial confusion with var. lindleyana on Bentham’s part is reviewed.