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

1982] CASSIINAE—CASSIA 41
sometimes as a precociously flowering treelet no more than 4 m, the older branch-
lets livid glabrate, prominentiy obtusangulate, the hornotinous ones with lvs (ex­
cept for sometimes glabrate upper face of lfts) and axes of inflorescence aU mi­
nutely pUosulous with fine incurved or curly hairs up to 0.1-0.25 mm, the
emergent fohage sordid-tomentulose but early greening and when adult bicolored,
the lfts then lustrous green above and paler beneath, the phyllotaxy spiral, the
long loose racemes of large fragrant fls borne on a stiff tapering, geotropically
arcuate axis either terminal to few-lvd branchlets or to leafless branchlets arising
from annotinous wood, anthesis coinciding with or closely following leaf-fall and
flush of new fohage.
Stipules thinly herbaceous green 2-lobed, appearing Innately semi-elliptic and
lateraUy attached below middle, there 2.5-5 mm wide, the obhquely lance-acu­
minate or -caudate lobes unequal, the ascending one (5-)7-14(-15) mm, the descending
one 3.5-7(-10) mm, the whole blade in age dehcately reticulate-venu­
lose, deciduous long before the associated If.
Lvs 1-4, mostly ±1.5-3 dm, progressively longer and more complex upward
along each branchlet; petiole including firm pulvinus 14-26(-32) mm, at middle
0.8-2 mm diam, openly shaUowly grooved ventrally; rachis mostly ± 1-2.5 (rarely
-3.4) dm, the hts inserted alternately up to 9-19 mm apart on each side, the
ventral groove continuous; pulvinules 0.8-2 mm; lfts on each side of rachis 9-12
in early lvs, in later ones 12-25(-29), slightly decrescent toward base and often
also toward apex of If-stalk, the larger lfts narrowly lance-oblong, oblong-elliptic
or seldom narrowly oblong-ovate, obtuse apiculate or acute to acuminulate
3-6 X 1-1.5(-1.7) cm, 3-4.4(-5) times as long as wide, at inequilateral base cuneate
or rounded proximally, rounded to truncate and obtusangulate distally, the
(adult) margin revolute, the midrib impressed above, cariniform beneath, the
8-13(-15) camptodrome with random intercalary secondary veins becoming finely
prominulous on both faces, a faint open tertiary venulation either prominulous
on both faces or dorsally only, or sometimes fully immersed.
Racemes subsessUe, openly (15-)20-35-fld, the axis with short or obsolete peduncle
15-35 cm, fully grown before the subsimultaneous anthesis of all its fls,
these borne on stout, widely divaricate or recurved pedicels (2.5-)3-5.5(-6) cm,
the pedicels when recurved also twisted to restore the fl to vertical; bracts her­
baceous lance- or narrowly ovate-acuminate or -caudate 6-12 x 2^ mm, persistent
at least into early anthesis, then deciduous; bracteoles (basal or exceptionally
shortly displaced upward along pedicel) similar to bracts but shorter and some­
what more persistent; fl-buds obovoid-ellipsoid, densely minutely velvety-puber­
ulent; hypanthium narrowly vase-shaped (2.5-)3-5 mm; sepals firm, greenish or
fuscous, convexly ovate-obovate, scarcely graduated in length, the longest
9.5-14(-15) mm, all promptly deciduous; petals golden yellow, widely expanded
and almost plane, persistent beyond fall of sepals and androecium, subhomo­
morphic, broadly obovate beyond the conspicuous claw, the longest petal
(23-)25-37(-39) x 13-26 mm, the claws 2.5-6; androecium glabrous except for
sometimes puberulent fertile anthers, the sigmoid filaments of 3 long stamens
strongly dilated ribbonhke (33.5-)35-62 mm, of the rest porrectly erect, dimin­
ishing backward toward the vexillum, of 4 fertUe ones 7-18 mm, of 3 adaxial
sterile ones 5.5-14 mm, the antesepalous pair ofthe latter hamately recurved at
apex; anthers of 3 long stamens ovate obtuse 2.5-4.5 x 1.8-2.2 mm, of 4 fertile
median ones (4-)4.4-6 x 1.6-2.5 mm, of 3 adaxial sterile ones 0.5-1.7 mm, that
of the antevexiUar one larger than that of its neighbors; ovary densely loosely
pilosulous, the sripe 4-6(-8) mm, the style (littie differentiated externally)
2.5-3.5 X (0.55-)0.6-0.75 mm, the minute intro-antrorse stigmatic cavity ±0.2
mm diam; ovules 162-234.