Cassia fruticosa Mill.

  • Authority

    Isley, Duane. 1975. Leguminosae of the United States: II. Subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 25 (2): 1-228.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Cassia fruticosa Mill.

  • Description

    Species Description - Glabrate or initially puberulent, bushy to subscandent shrub with arching stems. Leafstalk 4-10 cm, with petiole approximating or exceeding rachis; gland between lower leaflet pair ovoid or short columnar; leaflets 2 pairs, asymmetric-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, 6— 12(—15) cm, the upper pair larger 2-3 r; blades coriaceous, somewhat shiny above with displaced midvein. Stipules subulate, curved, deciduous. Flowers in terminally congested corymbiform racemes with reduced leaves. Sepals unequal, the longer to 12 mm; corolla yellow, 3.5-5.5 cm diam; functional stamens 7 with heavy, straw-colored (on specimens dark) rostrate anthers longer than filaments. Legume persistent, pendent, tardily and indefinitely dehiscent through upper suture after falling, oblong to linear, turgid, 1-2.5 dm long, 1-1.5 cm wide, beaked; valves woody. Seeds many.

  • Discussion

    Cassia bacillaris L. f. (1781) Chamaefistula bacillaris (L.f.) G. Don (1832) Cassia antillana Hort. p.p. CN n = 13 (Irwin and Turner, 1960; Amato Avanzi, 1956). Menninger (1959) refers to the horticultural availability of C. antillana and (1962) calls it one of Florida’s best winter-flowering trees for small dooryards. The only U.S. material marked as C. antillana that I have seen is C. fruticosa.

  • Distribution

    Subtropical Florida. Novelty. Oct.-Dec. West Indies to South America. Cult, in both American and Old World tropics.

    West Indies| Central America| South America|