Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Literature for Senna pendula
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999. Literature for Senna pendula var. advena
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999.
   Fabaceae -- The Pea Family Bibliography
      Senna pendula
General Information
DistributionNative to the New World tropics and subtropics, widely cultivated and naturalized.
Habit
Scandent or weakly erect, foetid shrubs 2-6 m tall.
Leaves
Leaflets (2)3-6(7) pairs, the distal ones larger, broadly to narrowly obovate or obovate-cuneate, (1.8-)2.2-5.5(-6.5) cm long, (0.7-)1-2(-2.4) cm wide, upper surface green, glabrous, lower surface slightly glaucous, glabrous or sparsely pubescent toward base or along midrib, apex rounded, mucronulate or shallowly emarginate, base obliquely cuneate, petiolar nectaries always between the first and sometimes also second pairs of leaflets, 0.7-2.8 mm long, stipules linear-lanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, 1.5-9 mm long, caducous.
Flowers
Flowers in racemes 3-30 cm long, pedicels 8-37 mm long, bracts subulate-lanceolate, 1-4 mm long, caducous as pedicels begin to elongate; calyx lobes yellowish to reddish brown, outer ones ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, 3-10 mm long, the innermost obovate to elliptic-suborbicular, 7-15.5 mm long, margins membranous; petals golden yellow to orangish yellow, fading yellow, the standard broadly obovate-flabellate, the others ovate to obovate, the abaxial ones sometimes oblong-elliptic, the longest one 11-26 mm long; staminodes linear-oblanceolate to rhombic-orbicular or inversely deltate, 1.2-4.5 mm long; filaments of 4 median stamens 1.4-4 mm long, those of lateral abaxial stamens dilated, 6.5-20 mm long, that of central abaxial stamen 1.6-7 mm long; anther of central abaxial stamen sterile, fertile anthers dehiscent by U-shaped slits.
Fruit
Pods pendulous, chartaceous, cylindrical or compressed-cylindrical, straight or slightly curved, often portions sterile and then variably distorted, 7-18 cm long, tardily or not dehiscent, the mesocarp and exocarp separating when fruit fully ripe, the cavity with membranous interseminal septa.
Seeds
Seeds in 1-2 rows, brown, smooth and glossy or dull, obliquely obovoid, perpendicular to capsule axis, embedded in copious or scanty pulp, 4.1-6.6 mm long, without an areole.