Senna Miller, Gard. Dict. Abr. ed. 4. [s.p.]. 1754; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 10: 28- 33. 2010.

Herbs, shrubs or small trees. Leaves abruptly pinnate; leaflets opposite; rachis and petioles with or without glands. Flowers zygomorphic, bisexual, pentamerous, perigynous, in axillary or terminal racemes; bracteoles absent; sepals 5; petals 5, subequal, usually yellow. Stamens 10, filaments of all stamens straight, sometimes 10 fertile, subequal, sometimes (6 or) 7 stamens fertile and 3 adaxial (anterior) stamens are staminodes; anther thecae not ciliate along sutures. Monocarpellary, ovary sessile or stipitate, unilocular with many ovules, placentation marginal; style short or long; stigma terminal. Legumes either indehiscent or inertly dehiscent through one or both sutures, in last case not coiling, sometimes valves breaking up into 1- seeded joints. Seeds numerous, funicle filiform.

284 species

Senna occidentalis (L.) Link, Handbuch 2: 140. 1831; Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed. 2, 2: 343.1832; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 10: 30; Cassia occidentalis L. Sp. Pl. 1: 377. 1753; Baker in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 262. 1879; Ali & Qurashi, S.U. Sci. Res. J. 3: 7. 1967; Brenan in Milne-Redhead & Polhill, Fl. Trop. E. Afr. 78. 1967; Ali in Nasir & Ali, Fl. W. Pak. 54: 17. 1973; Rudd. in Dassanayake and Fosberg (eds.), A Revised Hanbook to the Flora of Ceylon. Vol. 7. 1991; Sharma & Kachroo, Fl. Jammu (Illustr.) 2: t. 90. 1983; Dhaliwal & Sharma, Fl. Kullu Dist. 208. 1999; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 232. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 249. 2006.

Erect, 0.5-1.6 m tall, foetid, annual-perennial herb or undershrub with furrowed straight stem, green tinged with red. Leaves 12-18 cm long, petiole 3.5-6.5 cm long, petiole with a large brown ovoid gland near the base, rachis ends into a soft appendage; leaflets opposite, 3-5 paired, 2.5-7 cm x 1.2- 4 cm, ovate, oblong-lanceolate to broadly elliptic, rounded at base, acute or acuminate at apex, entire, ciliate, glabrous, pilose when young; petiolules 1 mm long. Stipules ca. 4-6.5 cm long, linear- lanceolate to ovate, semi-sagittate, acuminate, caducous. Flowers 1.2-1.5 cm long, ca. 2 cm across, yellow, 2-4 in axillary, corymbose, pedunculate racemes forming nearly 5 cm long panicles. Peduncle 4-10 mm long, elongating in fruit. Pedicels 6-10 mm long. Bracts 0.8-1.3 cm long, lanceolate, oblique, acuminate, white tinged with pink, caducous. Calyx 5-10 mm long, 5-parted, divided up to base, segments glabrous, oblong, obtuse, whitish green, pink tinged. Petals 1-1.4 cm long, free, broadly obovate, subequal, 2 outer slightly larger, all petals shortly clawed, conspicuously orange reddish-veined. Stamens 10, of the 3 lower (abaxial or anterior) 2 largest and one extremely reduced, 4 intermediate and 3 upper (adaxial or posterior) small staminodes. Ovary linear, tomentose, unilocular with many ovules, placentation marginal; style short, ca. 2-3 mm, glabrous. Legumes 6-12 cm x 0.7-1 cm, linear, laterally compressed, slightly falcate, transversely septate between seeds, sparsely appressed short hairy, 20-50-seeded, dehiscent by 2 sutures, valves not coiled. Seeds 4-5.5 mm x 2.5-4.5 mm, compressed, ovoid, ovate or suborbicular, rounded at tip, acute or subacute at base, pale brown, with an areole of +/- 2.7 mm x 1.5 mm in the middle on each face.

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