Senna pallida var. lemniscata H.S.Irwin & Barneby
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Authors
Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby
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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.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Holotypus, F = NY Neg. 10490; isotypus, MEXU.
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Description
Variety Description - Weak shrubs with slender flexuous subterete branchlets, at anthesis l-4 m, glabrous below the puberulent ovary, the ample foliage dark green above, pallid- glaucescent beneath, the 2-fld racemes mostly axillary to and much shorter than the coeval lvs. Stipules (little known) linear-lanceolate 3-4 x 0.2-0.4 mm. Major lvs 9-14.5 cm; petiole 13-19 mm, ± twice as long as first segment of rachis; rachis 6-9.5 cm, bluntly keeled dorsally; gland between proximal pair of lfts, shortly stipitate, 1.6-2.5 mm, the body 0.5-0.9 mm wide; lfts 9-12 pairs, the longest (often not the distal pair) elliptic-oblong or -oblanceolate obtuse or emarginate 22-32 x 6-10 mm, ±3-3.5 times as long as wide, delicately penninerved, the 5-8 pairs of fine camptodrome secondary nerves immersed above, faintly prominulous beneath, tertiary venulation imperceptible. Peduncles 13-23 mm; pedicels 15-18 mm; sepals dorsally resin-dotted where exposed in bud, the long innermost ones 7.5-10 mm; long petals 27-30 mm; androecium glabrous, the filaments free, of median stamens ±1.2 mm, of 3 abaxial ones 3-3.5 mm; anthers of 4 median stamens 4.5-5 mm, truncate at apex but the angles rounded, body of 3 abaxial ones 4.5-5 mm, the beak 1.6-1.9 mm; style ±2 mm. Stipe of pod 4-5 m, the body narrowly linear ribbon-like, straight, decurved or contorted, 17-26 x 0.35-0.42 cm, the lustrous reddish, delicately venulose valves closely fitting over seeds, the sutures obscurely strangulated at the intraseminal septa, these 4-5 mm apart; seeds dull olivaceous, like those of var. pallida 3.3-3.4 x 2.2-2.4 mm, the areole 1.1 x 0.6-0.7 mm.-Collections: 9. [Key: "Appendage terminal of lf-stalk modified into a gland resembling that between proximal pair of lfts; local either in highland centr. Costa Rica or in s. Mexico (Mexico, Oaxaca, Veracruz). Lfts of larger lvs 9-12 pairs; ovules 26-52; either the larger lfts over 2 cm long or the pod over 12 cm long. Plants of s. Mexico. Larger lfts 22-32(-35) mm long; ovules 48-52; pod extremely long and narrow, 17-26 X 0.35-0.4 cm, twisted on its vertical axis and shallowly undulate along the sutures; lowlands of n. Oaxaca and adj. Veracruz."]
Distribution and Ecology - Savanna thickets and regenerating or disturbed, tall evergreen humid forest of the Gulf Coastal Plain and first foothills to the w., apparently local between rios Blanco and Coatzacoalcos in s. Veracruz (mun. Zongolica and Hidalgotitlan), adjoining Oaxaca (mun. Tuxtepec, n.-w. Juchitan) and the s.-e. corner of Puebla (Bosque de Ajenjibre).-Fl. X-II.
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Discussion
This variety is clearly and obviously distinct from the var. pallida common on the Gulf Coastal Plain in Veracruz, different in the glandiform seta terminating the leafstalk, in the simple dorsal venation of the leaflets, in the resinous outer sepals, and especially in the very long and narrow pod (±17-26, not 6-15 cm long), unknown elsewhere in the species. The number of leaflets (9-12 pairs in longer leaves) is higher than average for var. pallida in this region, but not reliably diagnostic. The modified seta, the ample thin-textured foliage and the general habit of var. lemniscata forcibly recall the Costa Rican var. cordillerae, which differs, of course, in the more ordinary dimensions of the pod and less obviously in the large areole (±2, not ±1 mm diam) on the faces of the seed. The epithet refers to the often contorted pods, fancifully likened to the ribbons of a Roman wreath.
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Common Names
Zanca de tordo
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Distribution
Veracruz Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Puebla Mexico North America|