Cassia viscosa var. major

  • Title

    Cassia viscosa var. major

  • Author(s)

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Cassia viscosa var. major Benth.

  • Description

    156c. Cassia viscosa Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth var. major Bentham in Martius, Fl. Bras. 15 (2):, 132. 1870. — in campis montanis prov. Minas Geraes: Pohl, Lund, Gardner n. 4535." — Lectoholotypus, Gardner 4535, collected VII.1840 "near Formigas [= Montes Claros, near 17° S, 44° W] ", K (hb. Hook.)! = NY Neg. 8823; isotypi, BM, G! paratypi, Lund 292, C, F, NY!

    Cassia cuneifolia Vogel, Syn. Gen. Cass. 51 & in Linnaea 11: 695 (descr. ampl.). 1837. — "In Brasilia: Sellow leg." — Not seen; equated by Bentham (1870, p. 131 & 1871, p. 559) with C. viscosa, which is represented within the range of Sellow's travels only by var. major.

    Cassia viscoso-pilosa Steudel in Flora (Regensb.) 26: 760. 1843. — ". .[Hostmann] nr. 1185. . . Surinam." — Holotypus not seen; isotypi, some labelled "in arenosis distr. Para; Aug. 1842", BM, F, G, K (hb. Hook.) = NY Neg. 1478, K (hb. Benth.), S = NY Neg. 6766, U!

    Cassia viscosa var. acuta Ducke in Arch. Jard. Bot. Rio de Janeiro 3: 116. 1922. — ". .in arenosis prope Gurupa, [Para], . . .A. Ducke 15-8-1918, n. 17199." - Holotypus, RB! isotypi BM, G, US! = NY Neg. 6588.

    Cassia trachyclada Harms ex Glaziou in Mem. Soc. Bot. Fr. 1 (3): 168. 1906, nom. nud. - "Entre Santa Maria et Panga, GOYAZ, no. 20967. . ." - Glaziou 20967, K = IPA Neg. 1181, NY, P, US!

    Lvs up to 2-5(-6) cm, the petiole 5-21 (-24) mm, the rachis 4-12(-14) mm, the larger leaflets up to 1-2.5(-3) cm, mostly obcordate or inversely triangular, mucronate, rarely elliptic and deltately acute; inflorescence more thyrsiform than paniculate, the racemes commonly borne on many successive leafy branchlets of about the same length, or these reduced to axillary racemes, or the lateral branchlets sometimes late in season again branched to form a complex but narrow panicle; sepals mostly 7-9 mm; petals yellow, or yellow with orange base, up to 1-1.5 cm; pod 2-4 x 0.5-0.7 cm, either simply villosulous or both villosulous and weakly hispidulous with minute setules up to 0.5(-0.6) mm. — Collections: 62.

    Habitats various, in e. Guayana Highland, the interior Guianas, and lower Amazonian Brazil on sandy savanna, s.-ward in cerrado, campo, and disturbed cerradao, up to 1065 m on the Brazil-Venezuela border, up to 850 m s.-ward on the Planalto, but mostly below 600 m, widely dispersed in scattered stations from Mt. Roraima e. and s.-ward: Guyana (British Guiana) and Surinam (upper Rupununi, Berbice, Corentyne valleys), just entering Venezuela (edo. Bolivar) at s. foot of Roraima and Terr, do Rio Branco on upper Rio Mau; lower Amazon valley in Para between the lower Nhamunda and Gurupa; valleys of Rio Xingu to Serra do Roncador in n.e. Mato Grosso and of middle Araguaia and Tocantins valleys in n. Goias and adjoining Maranhao; central Maranhao on rios Itapicuru and upper Parnaiba; n.-w. and s. Ceara on Serra de Ipiapaba and Chapada de Araripe; w. Bahia on Espigao Mestre; and around the headwaters of Rio S. Francisco in Minas Gerais from Montes Claros on the e. to Paraopeba on the s. and Paracatu on the w, thence passing weakly s.-w. across the divide to the upper Paranaiba valley in the Triangulo, where transient into var. Paraguayensis. — Fl. mostly in wet seasons.

    The var. major, as conceived by Bentham (1870, 1871, I.c.), coincides with the relatively coarse variant with sometimes strongly hispid wandlike stems, always glutinously lustrous foliage, an inflorescence becoming in age densely thyrsoid-paniculate, and a short but broad, relatively few-ovulate pod prevalent in Minas Gerais, where at its southwestern limit it passes into the more amply leafy var. Paraguay ensis. Our var. major of eastern Brazil northward from Bahia, on the lower Amazon, and in the Guianas, tends to be more slender, less hispid, and has often a more simply thyrsoid adult inflorescence together with a narrower, sometimes longer pod. The populations on the Xingu-Araguaia watershed from Serra do Roncador are exceptionally tall, ampleleaved, and small-flowered. A collection from upper Tocantins valley (Agua Quente, Pohl 1829) has foliage as ample as that of var. paraguayensis but obcordate leaflets. We can find no substantial differential characters between these variants.