Senna macranthera var. striata

  • Title

    Senna macranthera var. striata

  • Author(s)

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Senna macranthera var. striata (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Description

    42d. Senna macranthera (Colladon) var. striata (Vogel) Irwin & Barneby, comb. nov. Cassia striata Vogel, Syn. Gen. Cass. 39 & Linnaea 11: 648. 1837.—"In Brasilia: Sellow leg."—Holotypus, †B; no isotypus or pho- totypus known to survive.—C. splendida var. striata (Vogel) Bentham in Martius, Fl. Bras. 15(2): 105. 1870.

    Fruticose, adult when 1.5-4 m; stipules 6-16 mm; distal lfts elliptic or elliptic- oblanceolate (5.5-)6- 11 x 1.6-3.8 cm, pubescent on both sides or only beneath, the hairs forwardly appressed or accumbent up to 0.2-0.5 mm; sepals submembranous, the long inner ones up to 8-14.5 x 5.5-7.5 mm; style 3.5-5 mm, ovules (96-) 100-144; pod 12-20 cm.—Collections: 16.

    Caatinga, mostly below 600 m, scattered through the hill country of e.-centr. Brazil from e. Pernambuco s. on the Atlantic slope to the Pardo valley in s. Bahia (lat. 8-15°S); Espigao Mestre and S. Francisco valley in w. Bahia (Rio Itaguari s. of Cocos; Cristopolis) and adjacent Goias (Posse).—Fl. III-VII.

    The var. striata resembles var. nervosa and var. macranthera in its leaflets and relatively long pod, but is apparently a less arborescent plant adapted to a more xeric climate and has the large membranous calyx of var. pudibunda. It may perhaps consist of luxuriant states of the latter, found in nearly the same latitudes and environments, but for the present the long pod and larger leaflets appear sufficiently distinct. The situation will need reappraisal as more fruiting material accumulates.

    We have adopted the epithet striata with some misgiving, for we have found no authentic material of Cassia striata and the type-locality is not recorded. Vogel’s full description in Linnaea is, however, in full agreement with our present concept. Bentham, who may well have seen genuine C. striata, reduced it to a variety of C. splendida, from which he separated it by the pubescent stems and foliage and the long setiform stipules, characters that fit our var. striata to the letter.

    The variety is cultivated in southern California (LASCA).