Senna pendula var. recondita H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • 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 1: 1-454.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Senna pendula var. recondita H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Type

    Holotypus, NY; isotypi, NY, US.

  • Description

    Variety Description - Shrubs ±1-2 m, the young branchlets minutely incurved-puberulent, the lfts glabrous except for a dorsal tuft of hairs in anterior basal angle of midrib; petiolar gland between proximal pair only; lfts 4-5 pairs, the distal pair (2-)2.3- 3.4 x (0.9-)l.1-1.6 cm, their secondary camptodrome veins 7-9 pairs, the lower face intricately closely reticulate as in var. glabrata; longest sepal 7-10 mm; longest petal 15-18 mm; blade of staminodes spatulate-oblanceolate ±2-2.5 x 1-1.3 mm; long filaments 14-16 mm, their anther 7.6-9 x 1.6-1.7 mm, its beak 0.5-0.7 mm; style 6.5-8 mm; ovules 48-52; body of pod 10-17 x 1-1.2 cm, laterally compressed but turgid, the seed-locules 1-seriate.—Collections: 6. [Key: "Lfts obovate or oblanceolate, rarely elliptic-oblanceolate, broadest above (exceptionally near) the middle; range of the whole sp. Style 5-10 mm and filaments of 2 long stamens (10-)11-20 mm. Plants of Brazil, Peru and s. through Bolivia to Paraguay and n. Argentina. Adult lfts sharply and closely reticulate beneath or on both faces; Brazilian Planalto s.-ward from near 13°S in Bahia and Goias to n.-e. Argentina, in Brazil extending locally to the coast in Parana and Sta. Carina. Pod turgid but laterally compressed, the seeds 1-seriate; either coastal in s.-e. Brazil or of n.-e. Argentina. Staminodes narrowly oblanceolate, ± twice as long as wide; ovules ±48-52; coastal 2.-e. Brazil (Parana and St. Catarina)."]

    Distribution and Ecology - Disturbed brush-woodland and restinga below 30 m, along the immediate coast of Santa Catarina and adjacent Parana in lat. ±25°40'-27°15'S.—Fl. III-V.

  • Discussion

    The epithet recondita has been chosen for this maritime variety to emphasize the often cryptic difference between it and var. glabrata, from which it can be distinguished reliably at anthesis only by a count of ovules. Despite this very close phenetic resemblance, we find the compressed pod and uniseriate seeds distinctive enough in season. The variety is also closely related to the ecologically similar var. ambigua from the coast of Rio de Janeiro, which combines the compressed pod of var. recondita with a brevistylous flower; and to the longistylous var. missionum of northeastern Argentina, which see for further comment.

  • Distribution

    Santa Catarina Brazil South America| Paraná Brazil South America|