Senna atomaria
Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 588. 1982.
Shrubs or trees, to 20 m. Leaves mesophyllous to slightly sclerophyllous, 8.5–28.5 cm, hairy, sometimes densely; stipules caducous; extrafloral nectaries 0; leaflet pairs 2–5, blades bicolored, usually obovate to elliptic, sometimes ovate, 20–130 × 10–60 mm. Racemes 5–55-flowered, not spikelike; bracts early caducous, to 5 mm. Pedicels 13–28 mm. Flowers asymmetric, enantiostylous; calyx greenish to yellow; corolla yellow-orange, slightly dark-veined, longest petal 12–23 mm, highly asymmetric, 1 or both lower petals highly modified, strongly concave and folded over stamens (flag-shaped); androecium slightly heterantherous, stamens 7 (similar in shape and size, abaxial ones slightly longer), staminodes 3; anthers 2.8–5 mm, dehiscing by 2 short slits, apical appendage 0; gynoecium incurved, ovules 46–70; ovary glabrate, sometimes becoming hairy after fertilization; style stout. Legumes pendulous, flat, straight, 220–370 × 80–140 mm, woody, indehiscent or splitting transversely into woody segments. Seeds reddish brown, obovoid to oblong-obovoid.
Phenology: Flowering late winter–late spring.
Habitat: Disturbed habitats.
Elevation: 0–20 m.
Distribution
Introduced; Fla., Mexico (Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, México, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán), Central America (including Caribbean Islands), South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela).
Discussion
As with other trees from deciduous and semi-deciduous vegetation, Senna atomaria is covered with flowers before developing the foliage (H. S. Irwin and R. C. Barneby 1982). In the flora area, it occurs naturalized only very locally in Collier County (R. P. Wunderlin et al., http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/).
Selected References
None.