Senna spectabilis (DC.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby var. spectabilis

Authors

Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

Authority

Irwin, Howard S. & Barneby, Rupert C. 1982. The American Cassiinae. A synoptical revision of Leguminosae tribe Cassieae subtrib Cassiinae in the New World. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35, part 2: 455-918.

Family

Caesalpiniaceae

Scientific Name

Senna spectabilis (DC.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby var. spectabilis

Type

Holotypus (3 lvs only), "cult, in h[ort]. m[eo] oct. 1809," G-DC! Spms at MPU, dated 14.XII. 1817 and 23.XI. 1831 are doubtless from the same source.—Pseudocassia spectabilis (DeCandolle) Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23(4): 230. 1930.

Synonyms

Cassia spectabilis DC., Pseudocassia spectabilis (DC.) Britton & Rose, Cassia trinitatis Reichenbach ex DC., Cassia totonaca Sessé & Moc., Cassia arborescens Mill., Cassia excelsa var. acutifolia Hassl., Cassia amazonica Ducke, Cassia carnaval Speg.

Description

Variety Description - Arborescent in forest but commonly seen as a shrub or treelet of disturbed woodland and other secondary habitats; major lvs (2-)2.5-4(-5) dm, the petiole including pulvinus 1.5-3.5(-4) cm, the rachis (10-) 14-36 cm; lfts (8-) 10-16 pairs, the largest (4.5-)5-9.5 x (1.2-)1.5-2.7(-3) cm, the outline as given in key; outermost sepal (2.5-)3-6.5 mm, innermost (5.5-)6-10(-14) x 5-9.5 mm; isomorphic petals 13-27.5 mm; heteromorphic abaxial petal 22-34.5 mm.—Collections: 123.—Fig. 11 (androecium), 12 (pod, seed). [Key: "Largest lfts of fully expanded lvs (4.5-)5-9.5 x ±1.5-2.5 cm, in outline narrowly ovate- to lance-acuminate, longer interfoliolar segments of rachis mostly 14-28 mm; widespread n. of Amazon valley, extending s. along e. foothills of Andes to Argentina, thence e into s - e. Bolivia and Paraguay."]

Distribution and Ecology - Moist and seasonally dry forest and woodland of various composition but now less common there than in secondary associations, often planted for ornament or as a living fence (for which purpose readily propagated by cuttings) and thence naturalized, the pre-Columbian range of dispersal consequently obscure, mostly below 850 m, but ascending to 1000 m in pine-forest in Honduras, to 1300 m in n. Venezuela and to 1800 m in the e. cordillera in Colombia, discontinuously widespread in parts of tropical N. and S. America: s.-e. Mexico (s.-e. San Luis Potosi, Veracruz and Tabasco to n. Oaxaca and Chiapas) s. to w. Panama, in most sites probably introduced; Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico), common only in Dominican Republic and probably nowhere truly autochthonous; native in Magdalena and Cauca valleys in Colombia, extending weakly to the Pacific slope in Valle; frequent and both native and adventive around the n. periphery of the Orinoco basin in Venezuela (Merida to Delta-Amacuro and adjoining Bolivar); planted and escaped in Trinidad and Tobago; not recorded from the Guianas; very local and of unknown status on the e. slope of the Peruvian Andes in Jumn and Cuzco; apparently again native along the Andean piedmont and in savanna-woodlands of Gran Chaco in s.-e. Bolivia, n. Argentina (Salta, Jujuy, Entre Rios) and Paraguay, on rio Apa closely approaching the Brazilian border (to be sought in s.-w. Mato Grosso); adventive (?) in capoeira along the lower Amazon around Montealegre, Para.—Fl. in N. America primarily (VII-)VIII-XII(-I), in S. America primarily I-IV, in equatorial latitudes throughout the year; pods maturing slowly, long persistent on branches of sometimes drought-deciduous trees.

Discussion

One of the handsomest ornamental sennas, recommended for rapid growth, ease of propagation and culture, and fragrance of the curiously asymmetric flowers arranged in bold thyrsiform panicles which may rise a meter above the crown of foliage. The Argentine and Paraguayan populations are not morphologically separable from Venezuelan and Colombian var. spectabilis but have been compared always with Brazilian var. excelsa and only for this reason maintained as an endemic Cassia carnaval. Ducke described C. amazonica as distinct from C. spectabilis in its somewhat fewer (8-12 pairs) of leaflets, but such numbers have been recorded repeatedly in material from the Orinoco basin and the Greater Antilles. It seems most likely, though we have no proof of it, that S. spectabilis was merely adventive and naturalized around Montealegre where it must have appeared to Ducke as notably distinct from all other Amazonian sennas. The flowers are said to poison bees in Salta, Argentina (Dimitri & Rial Alberti, l.c. sub C. carnaval).

Common Names

Canch'm, flor de todos los Santos, f. de los Muertos , candelilla, frijolillo, candelillo, bruscon , velero, canafistola macho, chiquichique, tarantan, vasito sucio, ramo , carnaval, yuto

Distribution

San Luis Potosí Mexico North America| Veracruz Mexico North America| Tabasco Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Chiapas Mexico North America| Valle Colombia South America| Mérida Venezuela South America| Delta Amacuro Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Junín Peru South America| Cusco Peru South America| Salta Argentina South America| Jujuy Argentina South America| Entre Ríos Argentina South America| Mato Grosso Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| Bolivia South America|