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

1982] CASSIINAE—SENNA 367
Racemes (3-)4-10(-13)-fld, the expanded fls raised to level of the obhquely
obovoid fl-buds, the axis together with peduncle becoming (1.5-)2.5-8 cm; bracts
submembranous paUid, Unear, lanceolate or subulate (1.5-)2-4.5 x 0.4-1 mm,
caducous as pedicel begins to elongate; mature pedicels (12-) 15-25 mm; sepals
either yehowish-green- or reddish-brown-tinged or sometimes bright yehow petaloid,
weh graduated, the outermost relatively firm ovate-elhptic 4-6.5 mm, the
submembranous innermost one oblong-obovate or suborbicular 6.5-10 mm; petals
bright yehow drying stramineous brown-veined, all short-clawed glabrous, the
amply obovate or obovate-flabellate vexUlar one ± deeply emarginate, the rest
all obovate obtuse or the 2 abaxial ones narrower, ah 5 of subequal length or the
vexiUar sometimes largest, the longest petal (12-) 13-16 mm; blade of staminodes
obovate or suborbicular (1.7-)2-2.6 x 1.4-2.5 mm; filaments of 4 median stamens
1.3-2.2 mm, of the centric abaxial one 2-4 mm, of the 2 long latero-abaxial ones
dUated ribbonhke (7-)7.5-10.5 mm, the anthers of 4 median stamens oblong-flask-
shaped, including the short dilated, obUquely truncate beak 3.6-4.5 x 1.2-1.5
mm, that of the centric abaxial stamen 4.5-5.5 x 1-1.5 mm, either distinctly or
scarcely nanower than its 2 long neighbors, these Innately lanceolate, yellow or
brown yellow-tipped 5.5-7.5 x (1.1-)1.3-1.8 mm, obscurely constricted 0.4-0.6
mm below the horizontally truncate apex, the orifice 0.6-1 mm wide, the rim 2umbonate
on the adaxial side, dilated abaxially into a small pollen-cup beyond
the twin pores of the locules; ovary glabrous; style stoutly hnear (2.6-)3-4(-4.3)
mm, often a trifle dilated distally, not or scarcely incurved and just below apex
0.3-0.45 mm diam, often persistent into maturity of pod, the stigmatic orifice
minutely ciholate; ovules 62-80.
Pod obUquely ascending on sthf pedicel, the stipe 2.5-5 mm, the straight or
obscurely incurved, cylindric or obtusely subquadrangular body when fully fertile
6-9.5(-10.5) X 0.8-1.1 (h strongly flattened in press becoming -1.3 cm wide), the
smooth green or anthocyanic valves becoming pale brown, fuscous or ultimately
black, paler-margined along the sutures, when fully ripe papery and faintly cor­
rugated over the seeds, the moderately pulpy cavity divided into 2 parallel rows
of locules, these when fertile becoming 1.7-2.6 mm long, occupying the breadth
but only half the thickness of the cavity; seeds turned with broader faces to the
septa, plumply compressed-obovoid (3.6-)3.8-4.9 x (2.7-)2.9^ mm, ± emphat-
icahy pinched at hilum, the olive-drab or brown testa smooth or sometimes microscopically
pitted, commonly lustrous but sometimes dull, exareolate; n =
14.—Collections: 93.
OriginaUy a shrub or treelet of sunny microhabitats in cool or moist oak, oak-
pine and mixed pine-hquidambar forest, secondarUy a prolific shrubby weed of
old pastures, abandoned orchards, waysides and other disturbed or ruderal
places, for over 200 years cultivated for ornament and since pre-Columbian times
for folk medicine, the primary range of dispersal thereby modified and lost to
view, but apparently truly native in ISlexico at ±1000-1950 m along or near the
crest and Guh Slope of Sa. Madre Oriental from s.-e. San Luis Potosi to n.
Oaxaca and Veracruz, and from the highlands of w. and s. Oaxaca and Chiapas
s.-e. through montane Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua just into Costa Rica,
in IVlexico extending w. at scattered points along the Transverse Volcanic Range
into IVIichoacan; naturahzed since XVIII century on Jamaica and apparently more
recently in hUl country of centr. Puerto Rico and centr. Dominican RepubUc,
reported (but surely only weedy or cultivated) from IVlartinique, Barbados and
Gulf of Panama; cohected infrequently and without data as to status but improb­
ably wUd in upland Colombia, Pacific Peru, the Federal District in BrazU, and
from gardens in Argentina and ChUe; long estabUshed in tropical Africa, India,