Senna occidentalis (L.) Link
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Erect herb to subshrub 0.5-1.5 m tall. Leaves 10-16 cm long, malodorous; leaflets 4-6 pairs, 4-9 cm long, lanceolate to lanceovate, chartaceous, with a few glandular hairs on lower surface, the apex acuminate, the base asymmetric, rounded to cordate, the margins entire, ciliate; petiole with a sessile, rounded gland at base; stipules lanceolate, 4-6 mm long, deciduous. Flowers few in axillary racemes; pedicels 0.7-1 cm long, pubescent; bracts lanceolate, 1-1.5 cm long, deciduous. Calyx green, of 5 expanded, obovate to oblanceolate sepals, 5-9 mm long; petals yellow, 0.9- 1.8 cm long, obovate, rounded at apex, the lower central petal larger, with notched apex; stamens 10, dimorphic, all of equal size, but only 6 of them fertile, the filaments of all shorter than the petals; ovary pubescent, oblong, the style recurved, the stigma pubescent. Legume ascending, 6-13 x 0.7-0.9 cm, linear, flattened, straight or slightly curved, coriaceous, beaked at apex, dark brown, with ribbed, light margins, semiwoody, dehiscent. Seeds 40-60, 4-5 mm long, ovate to rounded, compressed, light brown, smooth.
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Discussion
Common names: stinking weed, wild coffee.
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Distribution
Common roadside weed. Along dirt road to Bordeaux (A1902), Fish Bay (A3905). Also on Anegada, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; weedy throughout the neotropics.
Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Anegada Virgin Islands South America|