Cassia philippi

  • Title

    Cassia philippi

  • Authors

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Cassia philippi H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Description

    20.  Cassia philippi Irwin & Barneby, sp. nov., C. urophyllidiae necnon C. tephrosiifoliae arete affinis, ab ea foliis longipetiolatis nec subsessilibus (petiolo 20-55 nec 1.5-4 mm longo), ab hac foliolis subduplo majoribus secus rachin inter se semotis (nec confertis) ulterius ut videtur floribus (parum autem cognitis) parvis (petalis ± 11 mm usque nec ± 18 mm longis) recedens. - BRAZIL. Bahia: campos, Casa Pedra, VII. 1913 (fl), Philip von Luetzelburg 4. — Holotypus, F = NY Neg. 6771.

    Amply leafy shrubs 1-2 m, to 2 m diam, in all parts viscid-villosulous and minutely setulose, the stems, lf-stalks and inflorescence densely so, the more thinly pubescent foliage brownish, paler beneath, the axillary and terminal inflorescence exserted.

    Stipules linear-setiform, 1.5-4.5 mm, early dry, deciduous.

    Lvs spreading, 5.5-20 cm, petiolate; pulvinus moderately dilated, 2-3 mm, wrinkled when dry; petiole (1.5-)2-5.5 cm, at middle 0.6-1 mm diam, obscurely sulcate; rachis 2.5-10 cm, tapering distally; lfts (3-)4-7 pairs, widely spreading face up from rachis on densely glandular pulvinule 1.5-2 mm, not much graduated but the uppermost pair a trifle the largest, in outline subasymmetrically ovate or lance-acuminate, mucronate by excurrent midrib, 1.5-5 x 0.6-2.1 cm, at base asymmetrically cordate, the entire margin revolute, the blades thinly chartaceous, above blackish-brown, dull, thinly or remotely villous-setulose, beneath paler brown, pallid-papillate, villous-hispidulous with short fine hairs divergent from and erect between the setulose veins, the midrib with ± 9-20 pairs of secondaries pale and superficial above, beneath sharply prominulous, the few distant tertiary venules immersed above, filiform but raised beneath, enclosing large plane areoles.

    Inflorescence of few axillary and terminal loosely fid racemes raised to and well above the foliage, their primary axes 5-15 cm, with probably one fl only expanded per diem; bracts subulate- setiform, 2-3 mm, caducous; pedicels ascending, 10-18 mm, compressed, bracteolate 1-3 mm below calyx; bracteoles like bracts, 1-2 mm; buds plumply ovoid, sharply apiculate, thinly villosulous; sepals (probably reddish) —1 mm, the outer elliptic acute, the inner broader, obtuse, membranous-margined; petals (of Absus, little known) yellow, to 11 mm; ovary viscid-setulose; ovules ±6.

    Pod narrowly oblong, 3-4 x ±0.7-0.8 cm, the valves stiffly papery, viscid-setulose; seed unknown. — Collections: 3.

    Campo, cerrado, ±1000—1100 m, local in Chapada Diamantina of centr. Bahia, known exactly only from Sa. Agua de Rega 24-26 km n. of Seabra, the type-station "Casa Pedra" not identified. — Fl. VI—VIII.

    According to von Luetzelburg, in whose honor the species is named, this cassia formed locally 60 per cent of the shrubby vegetation of the cerrado. It is closely related to C. urophyllidia, which it resembles in texture, vesture, and color of leaflets and in the relatively small flowers, but differs in the larger, long-petioled leaves and long leaf-rachis. The also related C. tephrosiifolia has leaflets only half as large but flowers one third larger.