Cassiinae pt 1 NY-Botanical_gardens_Vol. 35_1 - Copy.pdf - Antbase

1982] CASSIINAE—SENNA 219
broader, the distal pair cuneate-obovate to broadly cuneate-oblanceolate from an
obhquely dUated base, obtuse or shallowly emarginate 22-52 x 10-22 mm,
1.7-2.7(-2.9) times as long as wide, the straight centric midrib cariniform beneath,
giving rise to ±6-9 pairs of camptodrome secondary nerves, these either finely
prominulous (and often differentiated by pale coloring) on both faces or only
beneath, a yet finer open mesh of connecting tertiary venules sometimes also
prominulous.
Peduncles 1-35 mm; racemes shortly or subumbellately 1-5 (rarely to 5-15)-
fld, the axis becoming (0-)l-6 (rarely 20-^0) mm; bracts firm oblanceolate to
lance-elliptic or -attenuate (3-)4-10 mm, persistent into anthesis, then dry decid­
uous; pedicels (22-)25^5 mm; young fl-buds obovoid-subglobose pilosulous, but
the inner sepals and petals expanding long before true anthesis; sepals firm obovate,
oblong-obovate or suborbicular, strongly graduated, the dorsally pUosu­
lous outer ones only ±V2 as long as the glabrous inner ones, these greenish
(6-)7-12 mm, faintly 5-7-nerved from base; petals golden-yellow, all conspicu­
ously clawed, puberulent or pUosulous dorsally at least along nerves, the 3 abaxial
ones amply ovate-cordate, the vexUlar one emarginate, the 2 abaxial obhquely
obovate or oblong-elhptic and slightly longer, the longest (25-)28-39 mm; an­
droecium functionally 7-merous, the puberulent filaments of 4 median stamens
2-4.5 mm, of 3 (or at least 2) abaxial ones 4.5-9 mm, the glabrous or thinly
pUosulous anthers of 4 median stamens slightly graduated by pairs, 4.5-6 mm,
straight or a little incurved distally, the divaricate-truncate beak 0.3-0.5 mm,
those of 3 abaxial ones strongly incurved 8-12 mm, the porrect beak 0.6-1 mm,
the beaks of all dehiscent by parallel slits; ovary densely white-strigulose; style
filiform 4.5-7 mm, gently incurved but not dilated distally, at apex 0.3-0.45 mm
diam.
Pod pendulous, the stipe 7-15(-18) mm, the linear, straight or slightly decurved,
strongly compressed ribbonlike body 8-14(-16) x 0.7-0.95 cm, the sutures undulately
constricted at each isthmus, the green, ultimately coriaceous, brownish-
nigrescent valves becoming sinuously reticulate-venulose, not elevated over the
greatly flattened seeds, the interseminal septa very narrow, early forming lines
of fracture, the 1-seeded segments 7-9.5 mm long, dispersed as indehiscent loments;
seeds (poorly known) subquadrate 4.7-5 x 4-4.3 mm, the testa casta­
neous, shghtly roughened sublustrous, the narrowly elhptic areole ±1.5 x 0.4-0.6
mm.—Collections: 71.
Seasonally dry oak or pine-oak woodlands, thorn forest, savanna thickets and
mixed deciduous xerothermic brushlands, in places aggressively abundant foUowing
disturbance or grazing, sometimes forming roadside hedges, from sea-level
on the Pacific coast of Mexico and Honduras up to 950 m in Morelos, 1100 m in
Oaxaca, 1350 m in Chiapas and 1100 m in Nicaragua, interruptedly dispersed
from s. Mexico to n. Venezuela: Balsas Depression from e. Michoacan to s.
Puebla; Pacific lowlands and interior hill country from w. Guerrero to Oaxaca
(especially common around Tehuantepec) and highland interior Chiapas; s.-e.
Guatemala in Jalapa and Zacapa (where attaining the Caribbean drainage); low­
lands around Gulf of Fonseca in s.-e. Honduras (VaUe and Choluteca) and ad­
jacent coastal (Leon) and submontane (EstelO Nicaragua; lowland n.-w. Costa
Rica (Guanacaste); unknown from Panama or Colombia but reappearing in Ven­
ezuela: Caribbean lowlands of Falcon; savannas around n. edge of Orinoco vaUey
at ±600-1200 m in Portuguesa (Acarigua), Cojedes (El Pao), and n. Guarico.—
Fl. in Mexico and Central America (V-)VI-X; in Venezuela VII-IX.—Chiqui-
chiqui (YtnezutlsO; pardcata (Michoacan).