Cassia multijuga Rich.
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Authority
Isley, Duane. 1975. Leguminosae of the United States: II. Subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 25 (2): 1-228.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Glabrate or puberulent tree. Leafstalk 14-25 cm with small to conspicuous, cylindric to conic or hooked gland between lower leaflet pair (or gland either seeming petiolar due to loss of lower leaflets, or deciduous); leaflets in ours 10-25 pairs, petiolulate, elliptic-oblong, obtuse, mucronulate (1-) 1.5-3.5 cm, 3-4 r, shiny above, lighter and glabrate to strigose or velutinous below. Stipules ca 1 cm, quickly deciduous. Flowers in terminal corymbose, puberulent panicles or (less frequently) axillary racemes. Pedicels 1.5-2 cm; sepals unequal, the longer ca 5 mm; corolla yellow, 3-4 cm diam, irregular; functional stamens 7, 2-3 longer than others with filaments approximating anthers, the latter with curved beaks; pistil glabrous, circinate. Legume dehiscent, stipitate, oblong, flat, 7-18 cm long, 2-2.8 cm wide, black or brown, becoming transverse-ridged.
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Discussion
CN n = 12 (Irwin and Turner, 1960). Listed by Menninger (1958, 1959); material seen by me entirely of botanic gardens and arboreta. Mexican to South American specimens are regionally diverse in leaflet number, size, and pubescence. Irwin (in litt.) has noted a range of 35-40 pairs leaflets in Surinam to about 20 in Brazil. Probably the species contains several geographic varieties.
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Distribution
Subtropical Florida, urban California. Novelty. Tropical America, planted in New and Old World tropics. Oct.-Nov.