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

1982] CASSIINAE—SENNA 227
sometimes mixed with random longer hairs, smaU thickened ones, or hvid setae,
the fohage conspicuously bicolored, the often firm-textured but sometimes mem­
branous lfts glossy dark green above, whitish- or tawny-tomentulose or -pUosu­
lous beneath, the inflorescence a panicle of racemes axillary to upwardly diminishing
lvs, shortly or scarcely exserted from fohage.
Stipules varying in form from erect and linear-attenuate to greatly dUated and
auriculately amplexicaul, 3-12 mm long from point of attachment, the blades
when dilated reflexed, either tardily deciduous or caducous before full expansion
oflf.
Lvs (below inflorescence) 5-15(-16.5) cm; petiole including the httle differentiated
pulvinus 4-18(-20) mm, at middle 0.8-2.3 mm diam, obscurely ribbed dor­
saUy, narrowly margined ventraUy; rachis 2.5-9.5(-ll) cm, each interfoholar segment
slightly dilated upward; glands nearly always lacking at first and often at
distal pair but present between all the rest, stipitate or subsessile, in profile
(0.8-) 1-3(-3.5) mm long, the glabrous or puberulent, ovoid, clavi- or fusiform
acute or obtuse head 0.3-1.2(-1.4) mm diam; pulvinules moderately swollen,
scarcely wrinkled 0.6-3 mm; lfts 3-8 pairs, ± accrescent distally but either the
distal or the penultimate pair longest, these obhquely elliptic, ovate-elhptic,
narrowly oblong-ovate or lance-elhptic, less often oblance-eUiptic or narrowly
obovate, obtuse mucronulate to deltately or truly acute, 2-6.5(-7) x (0.7-)0.8-
2.5(-2.7) cm, (1.7-)2.3-3.3(-3.8) times as long as wide, at base either in­
equilateraUy cordate or cordate only proximally and cuneate distally, the margins
strongly revolute, the straight or gently incurved midrib immersed or impressed
above, cariniform beneath, the 5-12(-13) pairs of major (and rare random
intercalary) secondary veins strongly raised beneath, anastomosing close to the
margin, the tertiary venulation sometimes fully immersed, sometimes deUcately
but sharply raised on one or on both faces.
Racemes (5-)7-25(-30)-fld, the fls at anthesis raised about to the level of un­
opened buds, the axis httle elongating, together with the short peduncle becoming
2.5-11 (-13) cm; bracts firm or foliaceous, lanceolate or rarely ovate-acuminate,
3-12 X \~4 mm, either caducous or persisting through anthesis; mature pedicels
(10-) 16-37 mm; young fl-buds subglobose glabrous or pilosulous, the early emer­
gent inner sepals always glabrous dorsally but ciUolate; sepals strongly graduated,
obovate obtuse concave, the inner subpetaloid, up to (-7)7.5-13(-17) mm; petals
(of ser. Laxiflorae) golden-yellow, pilosulous dorsally, the longest 16-26 mm
(caveat: corollas precociously expanded before true anthesis appear much shorter);
androecium functionaUy 7-merous, the filaments usuaUy and the grooves of
the anthers sometimes pilosulous, the filaments of 4 median stamens 1.5-3(-3.5)
mm, the centric abaxial one (2-)3-8(-ll) mm, of 2 latero-abaxial ones dilated
ribbonhke (3-)4-ll(-13) mm, the anthers of 4 median (differentiated into unequal
pairs) nearly straight 3-6.5(-8.5) mm, the divaricate biporose beak ±0.7-1.6 mm,
the anthers ofthe centric abaxial one 6-8.5(-ll) mm and of 2 latero-abaxial ones
Innately incurved (8-)9-l3.5(-15) mm, these contracted into a porrect scooplike
beak (0.5-)0.7-1.1 mm, its orifice divided by a slender septum; ovary densely
rusty-pUosulous; style straight, graduaUy attenuate distally, 5-8.5 mm, at sym­
metricaUy truncate stigma 0.2-0.35(-0.4) mm diam; ovules 20-32.
Pod (poorly known) variously ascending-spreading, outwardly arcuate or al­
most straight, the stipe 3-6 mm, the narrowly hnear body 9-15 x 0.4-0.55 cm,
compressed-tetragonal, the accessory rib parallel and approximate to the ventral
suture dilated into a narrow wing, the sutures commonly undulately strangulate
between seeds, the interseminal septa marked externaUy by a shaUow groove,
the seed-locules 4-5.5 x 2.5-4 mm, obviously longer than wide; seeds basi­
petally vertical, oblong-obovate in ouriine, compressed parallel to the valves.