Senna occidentalis

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

C. occidentalis has many uses. The roasted seeds can be used as a coffee substitute, and used against stomach disorders and rheumatism. A toxic chemical Chrysarobin is destroyed by the roasting. In Grenada, a tea is made from the leaves for colds and fevers, and young leaves used in baths like S.bicapsularis. The plant has many other therapeutic properties, including roots against syphilis. As with many Senna species, the plant has been established as a purgative , insecticide and potentuially toxic to livestock (Politi, 1996). A treatment for childhood diarrhea in Grenada (Averis, 2003). It has been Cultivated in fields in Senegal to reduce infestation by root parasite Striga . (Dalziel, 1948)

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Subfamily Caesalpinioideae

Mostly trees or shrubs . Leaves mostly pinnate, sometimes bipinnate, rarely apparently simple . Corolla usually showy, zygomorphic, the petals imbricate, posterior (upper or banner ) petal innermost in bud. Stamens 10 or fewer, distinct , usually not showy, some commonly reduced to staminodes. Pollen released in monads . Seeds with u-shaped line (pleurogram) usually lacking. [Carr]

Physical Description

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,455 meters (0 to 8,054 feet).[1]

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.1 • Maximum pH: 6.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Cassia caroliniana Walter • Cassia ciliata Raf. • Cassia falcata L. • Cassia foetida Pers. • Cassia laevigata sensu auct. • Cassia macradenia Collad. • Cassia obliquifolia Schrank • Cassia occidentalis (L.) Rose • Cassia occidentalis (L.)rose • Cassia occidentalis var. arista sensu Hassk. • Cassia occidentalis var. aristata Collad. • Cassia planisiliqua L. • Ditramexa occidentalis Britton & Rose • Ditremexa occidentalis (L.) Britton & Rose Ex Britton & P. Wilson • Ditremexa occidentalis (L.)britton & Wilson

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Comment: Climbing : Not climbing, Conservation Status: Not Threatened, Habit: Herb, Habit: Shrub , Lifespan: Annual , Lifespan: Perennial

Similar Species

Members of the genus Senna

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 83 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

S. acanthoclada (Senna) · S. alata (Candelabra Bush) · S. alexandrina (Alexandrian Senna) · S. angustisiliqua (Carga Agua) · S. armata (Desert Senna) · S. artemisioides (Feathery Cassia) · S. artemisioides artemisioides (Feathery Cassia) · S. artemisioides nothocoriacea (Wormwood Cassia) · S. artemisioides petiolaris (Cassia) · S. atomaria (Flor De San Jose) · S. auriculata (Avaram) · S. bacillaris (Whitebark Senna) · S. bacillaris var. bacillaris (West Indian Showertree) · S. bacillaris var. benthamiana (West Indian Showertree) · S. bauhinioides (Twinleaf Senna) · S. bicapsularis (Butterfly Bush) · S. bicapsularis var. augusti (Yellow Candlewood) · S. candolleana (Senna) · S. corymbosa (Argentina Senna) · S. covesii (Coves' Cassia) · S. didymobotrya (Peanut Butter Cassia) · S. divaricata (Arbre Bugaud) · S. durangensis (Durango Senna) · S. durangensis var. iselyi (Isely's Senna) · S. floribunda (Devils Finger) · S. gaudichaudii (Gaudichaud's Senna) · S. hebecarpa (American Senna) · S. hebecarpa var. longipila (Wild Senna) · S. hirsuta (Aytera Cimarrona) · S. hirsuta var. glaberrima (Woolly Senna) · S. hirsuta var. hirsuta (Woolly Senna) · S. italica (Italian Senna) · S. italica italica (Port Royal Senna) · S. ligustrina (Bahama Cassia) · S. lindheimeriana (Lindheimers Senna) · S. macranthera (Cassia) · S. marilandica (Maryland Senna) · S. mexicana (Mexican Senna) · S. mexicana var. chapmanii (Bahama Senna) · S. monozyx (Andean Senna) · S. multiglandulosa (Buttercup Bush) · S. multijuga (Alleluia) · S. multijuga lindleyana (Leafy Cassia) · S. multijuga lindleyana var. lindleyana (Leafy Cassia) · S. multijuga multijuga (False Sicklepod) · S. nitida (Golden Rain Tree) · S. obtusifolia (Brusca Cimarrona) · S. occidentalis (Arsenic Bean) · S. odorata (Southern Cassia) · S. orcuttii (Orcutt's Senna) · S. pendula (Christmas Senna) · S. pendula var. advena (Valamuerto) · S. pendula var. glabrata (Christmas Cassia) · S. pendula var. stahlii (Stahl's Valamuerto) · S. petersiana (Dwarf Cassia) · S. phyllodinea (Silver Cassia) · S. pilosior (Transpecos Senna) · S. polyphylla (Desert Cassia) · S. pumilio (Dwarf Senna) · S. purpusii (Baja California Senna) · S. quinquangulata (Quillo Huasca) · S. racemosa (Limestone Senna) · S. reticulata (Bajagua) · S. ripleyana (Ripley's Senna) · S. roemeriana (Roemer Senna) · S. rostrata (New Mexico Wild Sensitive Plant) · S. santanderensis (Brusco) · S. septemtrionalis (Arsenic Bush) · S. septemtrionalis var. septemtrionalis (Smooth Senna) · S. septentrionalis (Hedionda Macho) · S. siamea (Amarillo) · S. singueana (Wild Cassia) · S. sophera (Algarrobilla) · S. sophera var. purpurea (Pepper-Leaved Senna) · S. spectabilis (Canafistola Macho) · S. spectabilis var. excelsa (Canafistola Do Boi) · S. splendida (Golden Wonder Senna) · S. sulfurea (Smooth Senna) · S. surattensis (Glaucous Cassia) · S. timoriensis (Golden Bird) · S. tora (Casse Puante Petite Espece) · S. uniflora (Oneleaf Senna) · S. wislizeni (Shrubby Senna)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A catalogue of the plants growing in Bombay and its vicinty; spontaneous, cultivated or introduced, as far as they have been ascertained. / By John Graham. Bombay:Government Press, 1839. url p. 121.
• Britton, N. L. (ed.). North American flora. [New York]New York Botanical Garden. url p. 256.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 50 2004 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 110, p. 114, p. 134, p. 49, p. 88.
• Edwards, S. T. The Botanical register: consisting of coloured figures of. .. 1 1815 London: Printed for James Ridgway, 1815-1828. url .
• Flora Indica, or, Descriptions of Indian plants / by the late William Roxburgh. Serampore: Printed for W. Thacker, 1832. url p. 343.
• Flora Malesiana. general editor, C.G.G.J. van Steenis. Djakarta: Noordhoff-Kolff, 1950- url p. 426, p. 681, p. 682, p. 686.
• Flora Vitiensis nova: a new Flora of Fiji (spermatophytes only) / Albert C. Smith. Lawaii, Hawaii: Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, 1979- url p. 112, p. 113.
• Flora barbadensis: a catalogue of plants, indigenous, naturalized, and cultivated, in Barbados: to which is prefixed, a geological description of the island /by James Dottin Maycock. 1830 London: J. Ridgeway, 1830. url p. 169.
• Flora of Jamaica, containing descriptions of the flowering plants known from the island, by William Fawcett and Alfred Barton Rendle. London.Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum, 1910- url p. 103, p. 112, p. 112, p. 366, p. 366.
• Hand-book of Indian flora; being a guide to all the flowering plants hitherto described as indigenous to the continent of India. [Madras?]Trabancore Sircar Press, 1864-69. url .
• Hortus Jamaicensis, or A botanical description (according to the Linnean system) and an account of the virtues, &c., of its indigenous plants hitherto known, as also of the most useful exotics. Compiled from the best authorities, and alphabetically arranged. Jamaica, St. Jago de la Vega Gazette, 1814. url p. 151, p. 166, p. 203.
• Hortus suburbanus Calcuttensis; A catalogue of the plants which have been cultivated in the Hon. East India Company's botanical garden, Calcutta, and in the Serampore botanical garden. By the late J. O. Voigt, printed under the superintendence of W. Griffith. Calcutta, Bishop's College Press, 1845. url p. 250.
• Journal of ethnobiology. 24 2004 Flagstaff, Ariz.: Center for Western Studies, 1981- url p. 155, p. 193, p. 196, p. 197, p. 200, p. 202, p. 261, p. 272, p. 38.
• Materials for a flora of the Malayan Peninsula. By George King [and J.S. Gamble]. Calcutta;1889-1936. url p. 161.
• Memoirs of the American Entomological Society. Philadelphia, American Entomological Society, 1916- url p. 10, p. 12, p. 56, p. 62, p. 9.
• Miller, P. The gardeners dictionary: containing the best and newest methods of cultivating and improving the kitchen, fruit, flower garden, and nursery, as also for performing the practical parts of agriculture, including the management of vineyards, with the methods of making and preserving wine, according to the present practice of the most skilful vignerons in the several wine countries in Europe, together with directions for propagating and improving, from real practice and experience, all sorts of timber trees /by Philip Miller. 1768 London: Printed for the author and sold by John and Francis Rivington. .. [and 23 others], 1768. url p. CAS-CAS, p. CAS-CAS.
• Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, url p. 36.
• Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 140, p. 453.
• The Bombay flora, or, Short descriptions of all the indigenous plants hitherto discovered in or near the Bombay presidency together with a supplement of introduced and naturalised species / by Nicholas A. Dalzell and Alexander Gibson. Bombay: Education Society's Press, 1861. url p. 81.
• The Bombay flora: or, Short descriptions of all the indigenous plants hitherto discovered in or near the Bombay Presidency: together with a supplement of introduced and naturalised species / Bombay: Printed at the Education Society's Press, 1861. url .
• The flora of British India /By J. D. Hooker assisted by various botanists. Published under the authority of the secretary of state for India in council. 2 1879 London: L. Reeve, 1875-97. url p. 262, p. 262.
• The flora of British India. London, L. Reeve & Co., 1875-97. url .
• The flora of Jamaica; a description of the plants of that island, arranged according to the natural orders. With and appendix, containing an enumeration of the genera according to the Linnaean system, and an essay on the geographical destribution of the species. By James Macfadyen, M. D. Vo. I. Ranunculac London, Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman; [etc., etc.]1837. url p. 344, p. 344.
• The journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta: Bishop's College Press, 1832-1936 url p. 161, p. 285.
• Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 27 1871 London: [The Society], 1791-1875. url p. 532.
• Wight, R. & G. A. W. Arnott Prodromus Florae Peninsulae Indiae Orientalis: containing abridged descriptions of the plants found in the peninsula of British India, arranged according to the natural system: Vol. 1 /by Robert Wight and G.A. Walker-Arnott. 1834 London: Parbury, Allen & Co., 1834. url p. 290.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 28, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 12 providers.
• Hexacorallians of the World 2001.
• Heyn CC & Heller D 1991/1993 (from ILDIS).
• Heyn CC and Heller D 1991/1993 (from ILDIS World Database of Legumes).
• Home of the Xylariaceae 2006.
• ILDIS World Database of Legumes, 10, Nov 2005
• ILDIS World Database of LegumesNov 10, 2005.
• Lewis GP, 1994/1995 (from ILDIS).
• Light, Kris. East Tennessee Wildflowers
• Nghia, N.H. 1998. Dalbergia entadoides. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 October 2006.
• Nielsen IC & Rico ML, 1994 (from ILDIS).
• Pippen, Jeffrey S. Jeff's Nature Page. Accessed December 8, 2007.
• Podlech D, 1996 (from ILDIS).
• Polhill RM, 1993 (from ILDIS).
• Rhytismatales database 2006.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
• Schrire BD, 1994-10 (from ILDIS).
• Sokoloff DD, 2001-03 (from ILDIS).
• Stirton CH, 2001-06 (from ILDIS).
• The Global Lepidoptera Names Index2, 12.2, 2005.
• The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Jan 19, 2007.
• The Virtual Field Herbarium.
• Thomson, Christian (from Diptera).
• USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL (May 01, 2008)
• USDA, NRCS. 2005. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
• Vaz AMSF, 2001-05 (from ILDIS).
• World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. Adenanthera intermedia. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 October 2006.
• van der Maesen LJG, 1993 (from ILDIS).
• van der Maesen, LJG, 2001-03 (from ILDIS).

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

• Australian National Herbarium (CANB)
• Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum: Bishop Museum Natural History Specimen Data
• Bioversity International: The System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources (SINGER)
• Comisión nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad: Herbario del Instituto de Ecología, A.C., México (IE-BAJÍO)
• Comisión nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad: Herbario del Instituto de Ecología, A.C., México (IE-XAL)
• GBIF-Spain: Real Jardin Botanico (Madrid), Vascular Plant Herbarium (MA)
• GBIF-Spain: Univ. Herbarium SALAMANCA: SALA
• GBIF-Spain: Universidad de Extremadura, UNEX
• GBIF-Sweden: Internation Botanical Collections (S)
• Herbarium of the University of Aarhus: The AAU Herbarium Database
• Herbier de la Guyane
• Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (Costa Rica): Biodiversidad de Costa Rica
• Missouri Botanical Garden
• National Herbarium of New South Wales: NSW herbarium collection
• National Herbarium of New South Wales: Plants of Papua New Guinea
• SysTax
• SysTax: Herbarium Universitat Ulm
• Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility: Magnoliophyta
• University of Alabama Biodiversity and Systematics: Herbarium (UNA)
• USDA PLANTS: USDA PLANTS Database

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2669310
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ILD-665
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13764713
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:143299-3
• GRIN Nomen Number: 100059
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 505166
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 143299-3
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: SEOC2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 62779

Footnotes

1. Mean = 160.120 meters (525.328 feet), Standard Deviation = 644.880 based on 495 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.