Senna pilifera var. tubata

Title

Senna pilifera var. tubata

Authors

Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

Scientific Name

Senna pilifera var. tubata H.S.Irwin & Barneby

Description

63c. Senna pilifera Vogel var. tubata Irwin & Barneby, var. nov., omnino fere cum var. subglabra congruens sed stylo in ipsum apicem 0.7-1 (nec 0.3-0.6) mm diam dilatato tubiformi foliolisque utrinque glaberrimis dorso prominule reticulatim venulosis absimilis.—BOLIVIA. La Paz, prov. Larecaja: Mapiri, IV. 1866 (fl,fr), H. H. Rusby 984.—Holotypus, NY; isotypus, NY.

Habit of var. subglabra, the (? always) solitary erect or ascending stem 5-15 dm; long sepals 5-6 mm; longest petal 13-17 mm; otherwise as in key.—Collections: 10.

Habitat not recorded, to be expected in brush or pastures near 900-1500 m, Andean foothills on the sources of Rio Beni in La Paz (Larecaja; Las Yungas), Bolivia; also in cultivated ground or at edge of woods, near 300 m, at scattered points on the upper Paraguai and Parana rivers in Paraguay (Alto Paraguay) and Brazil (Bataguagu, Mato Grosso), here perhaps only ruderal.—Fl. IV-V, IX.

This has the habit, the thin-textured, dorsally glaucescent leaflets and the small flowers and seeds of var. subglabra, but is allopatric and notable in the species as a whole for the dilated, trumpet-shaped style. We surmise that it is native in the foothills of the Bolivian Andes and only of secondary occurrence as an agricultural weed along the great rivers southward.