Cassia ursina Mart. ex Benth.
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Authors
Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby
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Authority
Irwin, Howard S. & Barneby, Rupert C. 1978. Monographic studies in Cassia (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae). III. Sections Absus and Grimaldia. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 30: 1-300.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Holotypus, without further data, M (2 sheets)! = F Neg. 6262 = NY Neg. 8899.
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Description
Species Description - Amply leafy, widely branching shrubs to 1-2.5 m, the new foliage and young stems densely viscid-villosulous and setulose, the mature leaves more thinly so above, the setae of at least the stems and lower face of leaflets stellately pubescent at base, the foliage conspicuously bicolored, blackish above, sordidly gray-tomentulose beneath, the partly exserted paniculate inflorescence hispid with long spreading setae. Stipules subulate-setaceous, 0.8-2 mm, caducous. Lvs widely spreading-ascending, (5-)7-16.5 cm long, petiolate; pulvinus scarcely differentiated, up to 2 mm; petioles (1-)2-3.5 cm, mostly coarse (1-1.4 mm diam) openly sulcate ventrally; rachis 3-8.5 cm; lfts (3-)4-5(-6) pairs, spreading-ascending from rachis, not or obscurely tilted, on subcylindric petiolule 1.5-3 mm, accrescent upward, in outline broadly oblong-ovate to ovate or lance-elliptic, obtuse, emarginate or subacute, but always apiculate by the excurrent costa, (1.5-)2-5.5 x 0.7-2.7 cm, at base strongly oblique and proximally semi-cordate, the entire margin strongly revolute, the blades firmly chartaceous, thinly pubescent above with scattered erect villi mixed with small glabrous setules, beneath densely hirsute-tomentulose with fine gray hairs divergent from all veins and venules and mixed with basally stellate-pubescent setules. the costa with (7-)8-14 pairs of secondary and the connecting tertiary veins all impressed above, all sharply prominulous beneath, the depressed concave areoles commonly papillate. Inflorescence a complex corymbiform panicle of racemes, at base leafy-bracteate, naked distally, elevated well above the foliage, the stiff axes all hispid with glabrous brownish pale-tipped setae up to 1.5-2.5 mm sometimes but not always mixed with shorter villi, the individual racemes mostly 3.5-12 cm, loosely, at first subcorymbosely few- to many-fld, the fls at anthesis disposed near level of succeeding buds; bracts linear-subulate, dorsally setulose, 2.5-6 mm, early caducous; pedicels ascending 2-3(-3.5) cm, bracteolate 1-2.5 mm below calyx; bracteoles resembling bracts, slightly smaller, caducous; buds ellipsoid, obtuse but obscurely apiculate, either densely villosulous and setulose, or rarely glabrate beyond the villosulous base; sepals (probably reddish) elliptic to elliptic-oblanceolate, mostly obtuse, 8.5-11 x 2.5-5 mm; petals yellow, 4 cuneate-flabellate, up to 15-17 x 6-10, the fifth obliquely obovate, coiled over the androecium; ovary densely viscid-villosulous, not or scarcely setulose; ovules 6-7. Pod (poorly known) narrowly oblong, almost straight, ± 3 x 0.7-0.8 cm, finely viscid- villosulous, not or minutely setulose; seeds unknown. — Collections: 13.
Distribution and Ecology - Cerrado often near margins of gallery forest, and open rocky campo, 900-1400 m, on and near the crest of Sa. do Espinhaço between S. Joao da Chapada and Ouro Preto (± 18°-20° 30' S.) in centr. Minas Gerais. — Fl. III—VI. "...in Serra Frio prov. Minas Geraes: Martius."
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Discussion
Related to C. astrochiton and C. aurivilla, differing from both in the impressed reticulation of the upper surface and gray tomentose vesture of the lower; from C. astrochiton further in the coarse setae evidently stouter and longer than the hairs that arise from their bulbous bases, and in the more effuse panicle of racemes; and from C. aurivilla further in the larger and fewer leaflets together with a sordid or grayish, not golden-yellow setose vesture. The similar C. exsudans and C. xanthadena differ at first sight by lack of stellately or arborescently pubescent setae. Characteristic of C. ursina is the concentration of gray hairs along the secondary veins of the lower leaf-face which appear in consequence paler than the spaces between them.
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Distribution
Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America|