Cassia chrysosepala H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • 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 chrysosepala H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Type

    Holotypus, UB; isotypi, F, GH, K, NY, RB, S, US.

  • Description

    Latin Diagnosis - Cassia chrysosepala Irwin & Barneby, sp. nov., adspectu toto C. adenophyllam et C. itabiritoanam simulans sed ab ea floribus majoribus (petalis 15-18 nec 8.5-10 mm usque longis), ab hac (quoad florum magnitudinem simili) foliolis lanceolato-ellipticis acutis (nec late obovato- ellipticis obtusis), ab ambabus alabastris sepalisque maturis setis luteis 1-1.5 mm usque longis hispidis manifeste diversa.

    Species Description - Shrubs to 3 m with slender erect brown, soon leafless trunks openly branching and densely leafy distally, the young stems and foliage at least thinly villosulous and minutely yellow-setulose, the relatively ample foliage viscidulous, concolorous, the short terminal and subterminal, scarcely exserted inflorescences more densely setose and glandular. Stipules ascending and spreading, subulate, 1-2.5 mm, tardily deciduous. Lvs ascending and spreading, (3.5-)4-9 cm, petiolate, the lf-stalks densely glandular-setulose; pulvinus a little dilated but hardily discolored or otherwise differentiated, 0.8-2 mm; petiole (0.9-) 1-2.5 cm, 0.6-0.8 mm diam, narrowly sulcate ventrally; rachis 5-27 mm; lfts (1-)2-3 pairs spreading from rachis and tilted a little forward and edgewise on little dilated, densely glandular pulvinule M-4 mm, a trifle longer upward, in outline elliptic to lance-elliptic, acute to subobtuse but mucronate by the excurrent costa, 1.5-4.4 x 0.5-1.4 cm, at slightly asymmetric base narrowly rounded on proximal and cuneate on distal side, the blades chartaceous, olivaceous on both sides dull, papillate, microscopically puberulent and sparsely resinous-setulose, the entire plane margin ciliolate and minutely setulose, the costa and 4-7(-8) pairs of secondary veins faintly raised above, more filiform but sharply prominulous beneath, the tertiary venation scarcely perceptible. Racemes both leaf-opposed and (later) terminal to branchlets, shortly and loosely — (3-)5-12- fld, the 1 fl expanded per diem and succeeding buds raised to nearly same level, the axes all yellow- setulose, the primary one becoming 2-5.5(-6.5) cm; bracts submembranous purplish, ovate to lanceola 3—5 mm, the broad base clasping the pedicel, persistent through anthesis, tardily deciduous; pedicels ascending or finally widely spreading, 13-22 mm, bracteolate 2.5-5 mm below calyx; bracteoles resembling bracts, ovate, 2-3.8 x 1-1.5 mm, deciduous; buds plumply ovoid, bluntly apiculate by the callous- tipped exterior sepal, reddish-tinged and densely hispid with golden-yellow setae to 1-1.5 mm; sepals ovate to elliptic obtuse, 6.5-12.5 x 3-6, the inner ones with broad yellow petaloid margins; petals yellow, 4 broadly obovate -f label late from cuneate base 15-18 x 7-12 mm, the fifth shorter, obliquely obovate, coiled; ovary densely setulose; ovules 3-6. Pod oblong, nearly straight, 2.2-3.7 x 0.8-1 cm, the stiffly papery valves reddish-brown when ripe, glandular-villosulous and setulose; seeds compressed-pyriform ±4.5-5.5 x 3.1 -3.4 mm, the testa lustrously atrocastaneous or black, finely crackled horizontally and shallowly lineolate. — Collections: 4. Plate. 13.

    Distribution and Ecology - Rocky creek-margins, wet campo, and borders of gallery-forest, 1000-1250(-1600) m, known oi from Chapada dos Veadeiros at points 20-30 km n. of Alto Parafso (formerly Veadeiros) in e.-centr. Goias. - Fl. I-IV.

  • Discussion

    A tall shrubby cassia clearly related to C. adenophylla and C. itabiritoana, both remotely allopatric in the central and southern Sa. do Espinhaco in Minas Gerais. It resembles the smaller- flowered C. adenophylla in the relatively narrow, but more acute and on the average fewer (mostly 2- or 3-, not 2-5-yoked) leaflets and the latter, which has much broader and obtuse leaflets, in flower size, but differs from both in the dense yellow-hispid pubescence of the buds and calyces.

  • Distribution

    Goiás Brazil South America| Brazil South America|