Erect perennial 0.5-2 m, glabrous or villous above; stipules subsetaceous; petiolar gland clavate to obovoid, constricted at base into a short stipe; lfls commonly 6-10 pairs, oblong or elliptic, 2-5 cm, acute or obtuse, mucronate; infl of several axillary, many-fld racemes, forming a terminal panicle; buds nodding; sep unequal; pet 10-15 mm, slightly dissimilar; filaments about equaling the anthers; ovary densely villous; pods 7-12 cm נ5-9 mm, tardily dehiscent, sparsely villous, the joints nearly square; seeds nearly as wide as long, flat with a depressed center. Moist open woods, roadsides, and streambanks; Mass. and s. N.H. to s. Wis., s. to N.C., e. Tenn., and Ill. July, Aug. (Cassia h.; C. marilandica and Ditremexa m. of authors, misapplied)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.