Senna multijuga subsp. multijuga var. verrucosa

  • 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.

  • Discussion

    161/Ib. Senna multijuga (L. C. Richard) subsp, multijuga var. verrucosa (Vogel) Irwin & Barneby, stat. nov. Cassia verrucosa Vogel, Syn. Gen. Cass. 38 & Linnaea 11: 682 (descr. ampliat.). 1837.—"In Brasilia; Sellow leg. inter Victoria et Bahia."—Holotypus, B (ex hb. Kunth.), not seen = F Neg. 1767! isotypi, FI, K (hb. Hook.) = NY, Neg. 1467 = IPA Neg. 990, P, W!

    Cassia centijuga Wawra, Flora 47(n.r. 22): 248. 1864.—"Peckolt Coll. n. 228; Urwaldbaum; Februar; Schoten im Marz."—Holotypus, divided into 228 (fl) and 228b (fr), collected at Cantagallo, prov. Rio de Janeiro, W!—Lfts ±100, not 100 pairs!

    Cassia verrucosa sensu Bentham, 1870, p.p., quoad pl. Blanchet., caeteris exceptis; 1871, eadem ex parte.

    Trees 10—40 m, with trunk to 12-60 cm diam, the annotinous branchlets, ventral angles of lf-stalks and axes of inflorescence densely pilosulous-tomentulose with fine sordid spreading or flexuously incumbent hairs to 0.15-0.4 mm.

    Stipules herbaceous, obliquely dilated at base, semi-ovate or falcately lanceolate 3-8 x 0.7-1.6 mm.

    Lvs 7-16 cm; gland at proximal (and sometimes at second) pair 1-2.5 x 0.25-0.45 mm, smaller subulate glands (often obscured by vesture) at all following pairs; pulvinules 0.3-0.7 mm; lfts of major lvs 26-56 pairs, inserted along rachis at points 1.5-4 mm apart, the larger in outline linear, linear-lanceolate or -oblong, 8-14 x 1.6-3.2 mm, (3-)3.5-6 times as long as wide, the secondary camptodrome venation immersed on both faces or faintly raised on upper and visibly discolored on lower face.

    Long inner sepals 4-5.5 mm; petals glabrous, the adaxial ones 11-16 mm, the falcate abaxial one 14-21 mm; androecium glabrous; ovary puberulent along sutures or overall.—Collections: 17.

    Humid forest of the coastal plain, locally inland along rivers, below 300 m, often preserved for shade in cocoa plantations, local in s.-e. Bahia and n. Espirito Santo from the lower Contas valley to the vicinity of Linhares (± 14°-19°30'S); Organ Mts. Rio de Janeiro.—Fl. VI-VII(-VIII).—Angieo branco.

    In its relatively narrow area of dispersal var. verrucosa is easily recognized by the high number and small size of the leaflets combined with basally dilated herbaceous stipules, a character noted by Vogel in the protologue but afterwards overlooked by Bentham. Around Ilheus and Itabuna and in the middle Pardo valley it has been collected close to var. lindleyana, here at its northern limit and possibly introduced from further south. The var. lindleyana has setiform stipules and leaflets at once fewer and larger than those of var. verrucosa, although not as large in this segment of its range as ordinarily in Rio de Janeiro or Minas Gerais. The more distantly related S. acuruensis, with similar (but narrower) pod and similar narrow seeds, has at the very most 20 pairs of leaflets and a viscid- setulose inflorescence; it is a weakly arborescent shrub adapted to different habitats in the caatinga formation of the foothills and uplands.

    Bentham, treating Cassia verrucosa as a distinct species, suggested that it might prove to be only a variant of C. multijuga with many small leaflets, a view readily adopted herein. Bentham’s concept of C. verrucosa was, however, somewhat more inclusive than our own, embracing elements of our subsp, lindleyana var. peregrinatrix, superficially similar in small size (though different in lower number) of leaflets and technically distinct in having the setiform stipules of subsp, lindleyana.