Biorepository Data Portal

Wiggins 1964, Martin and Hutchins 1980, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: Perennial herb to subshrub, simple stemmed or branched above, often to 1 m more tall, herbage glabrate to sparsely pubescent, stems ridged with linear to lance-subulate stipules, 5-10 mm long. Leaves: Up to 40 cm long, petiole bearing a large gland near base, 8-16 leaflets, lanceolate, 7-25 mm wide by 4-10 cm long, glabrous except on puberulent margins, bright green. Flowers: Terminal inflorescence, but can be axillary, few flowered, on pedicels 5-25 mm long; sepals thin, oblong to obovate, rounded, 7-10 mm long, petals to 1.5 cm long, exceeding the sepals, yellow. Fruits: Linear pods, 4.5-6 mm wide to 25 cm long, indehiscent to tardily dehiscent, dull grayish brown at maturity. Ecology: Found along washes and streams from 2,500-5,500 ft (762-1676 m); flowers July-September. Notes: Foliage is ill-smelling, easily identified by the bright yellow flowers and size of the plant. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Senna is from Arabic Sena, while hirsuta comes from hirsute, for hairy, and glaberrima means completely glabrous. Synonyms: Cassia leptocarpa var. glaberrima, Cassia gooddingii, Ditremexa glaberrima Editor: SBuckley, 2010