Senna pendula var. stahlii

  • Title

    Senna pendula var. stahlii

  • Authors

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Senna pendula var. stahlii (Urb.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Description

    126n. Senna pendula (Willdenow) var. stahlii (Urban) Irwin & Barneby, stat. nov.

    Cassia stahlii Urban, Symb. Antill. 1: 316. 1899.—"Hab. in Portorico in sylvis montanis inter Guayama et Guamani, prope Cayey juxta flumen Morillos, prope Aybonito ad La Lima, m. Sept., Oct. flor., Dec. fruct.: Sintenis n. 2138, 2520, 2724, 3074, Stahl n. 205."—Syntypi omnes †B; lectoneotypus, Sintenis 2138, collected 21.X. 1885 (fl), GH! paratypi, Sintenis 3074, M, MO, NY!—Adipera stahlii (Urban) Britton & Rose ex Britton & Wilson, Sci. Surv. Porto Rico & Virgin Is. 5(3): 370. 1924.

    Adipera stahlii sensu Britton & Rose, 1930, p. 240.In stature, foliage, vesture and pod closely resembling var. ovalifolia, but the petiolar glands more numerous, 2, 3 or 4, between all or all but the distal pair of lfts; pedicels proportionately elongate, 25-33 mm; fls small, the innermost sepal ±7 mm, the longest petal 11.5-14 mm; 2 long filaments ±6 mm, their anther 4.5 x 1 mm; style 1.8-2.2 mm, hooked at apex; ovules ±74.—Collections: 9.

    Open hillsides and thickets along streams, up to 600 m, local in hill country on and near the north-south divide in e.-centr. Puerto Rico (about Aibonito and Sa. de Cayey).—Fl. VIII-XII.

    At the fruiting stage this geographically isolated variety of S. pendula can hardly be distinguished from var. ovalifolia except by the more numerous petiolar glands, situated between all or all but the distal pair of leaflets, and by the elongate pedicels (25+, not 11-23 mm). It differs from this, however, as from all other forms of its species, in the very short abaxial stamens coinciding with an abbreviated style hooked at tip. The only senna native to Puerto Rico that closely resembles var. stahlii in general habit, foliage and terete pod is S. bicapsularis, distinguishable at all seasons by the short pedicels, even in fruit not over 5 mm long.

    Cassia stahlii commemorates Augustin Stahl (1842-1917), physician and naturalist of German-Dutch descent, botanically active in Puerto Rico in 1883-1889.