Cassia leucopilis Glaz. ex Harms

  • Authors

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • 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.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Cassia leucopilis Glaz. ex Harms

  • Type

    "Brazilien: Goyaz, Serra da Baliza, Cachoeira da Holotypus †B = F Neg. 1703! clastotypus (fragm), F! neoholotypus, former isotypus, dated 15.1 1895, P! isotypi, G, K, S!

  • Description

    Species Description - Subshrubs to 1-2 m, with virgate, simple or distally few-forking branches, except for the lustrous upper leaf-surface densely pubescent throughout with patent, rather soft and weak, tapering, brownish or pale-yellowish, plumose setae 1-3.5 mm, inconspicuously viscid-glandular, the lfts in addition softly villosulous beneath, the stems, lf-stalks and inflorescence shaggy, the terminal inflorescence exserted. Stipules subulate-setiform, 4-7 mm, early brown and deciduous. Lvs stiffly ascending at narrow angles to the stem, 3.5-10 cm, those of young branchlets short-petioled, most of the rest subsessile; pulvinus slightly discolored but scarcely otherwise differentiated, ±2 mm, commonly concealed by setae; petiole 0-10(12) mm, openly shallow- sulcate ventrally; rachis stout, 1-2.5 cm; lfts 2-3 pairs, ascending toward vertical on discolored but scarcely dilated pulvinule ±1.5 mm, widely spaced, the distal pair largest, in outline narrowly obovate to oblong-elliptic, obtuse but sharply mucronate by the excurrent costa, 2.5-6.5 x 1.1-3 cm, at base moderately oblique, the adaxial corner rounded, the abaxial cuneate, the entire margin revolute, the blades stiffly chartaceous, strongly bicolored, above bright green brunnescent in age, smooth and lustrous, beneath gray-villosulous-tomentulose with soft hairs and along all veinlets hispidulous with erect or divergent setae, the costa and ±7-10 pairs of secondary veins above pallid, superficial, but the reticulation immersed, beneath all prominulous and the ultimate areoles flat but sunken, papillate, the secondary veins ascending and anastomosing distally into a continuous ± undulate submarginal vein. Inflorescence (little known) a narrow, elongate, simple, many-fld raceme with shorter but otherwise similar ones arising subsequently from some uppermost leaf-axils, the primary axis up to 15 cm, the buds well elevated above the open fls; bracts brownish, narrowly lance- attenuate, cymbiform, incurving distally, apparently persistent; pedicels becoming ±12-15 mm, bracteolate 2.5-9 mm below calyx; bracteoles resembling bracts, but only 2.5-3 mm, persistent; buds ovoid-acuminate, densely villosulous and setose; sepals reddish-brown, elliptic or oblanceolate, acute or the inner ones obtuse, these with wide petaloid margins; petals yellow, broadly oblanceolate- to obovate-cuneate, up to ±21 mm long; ovary both gray-villosulous and yellowish-setulose. Pod unknown. — Collections: 2.

    Distribution and Ecology - Bordering low, periodically flooded places in open campo, ± 1000 m, apparently highly localized and very rare, near Chapada dos Veadeiros s. of Alto Paraiso, Goias. - Fl. III-V.

  • Discussion

    A remarkably distinct species, the only member of sect. Absus in which plumose setae coincide with only 2 or 3 pairs of leaflets. The setae, the narrow, shaggy-setose inflorescence, and the strongly bicolored leaflets marked on the upper side by many pairs of pallid ascending secondary nerves are all suggestive of C. aurivilla, but the larger and fewer leaflets are of course quite different.

  • Distribution

    Goiás Brazil South America| Brazil South America|