Senna multijuga (Rich.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby, Fabaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Cassia multijuga L. Richard

Common name(s): [more details]

English: false sicklepod, leafy cassia

Habit:  tree

Description:  "A tropical American tree that can grow over 100 feet tall.  It is easily recognized by its leaves, which have as many as 50 pairs of relatively small (0.25-2 inch long), linear-elliptic leaflets and a gland between the lower 2-4 pairs of leaflets.  The pods are flat and 2-6 inches long" (Staples & Herbst, 2005; p. 326).

Subsp. lindleyana var. lindleyana:  "Tree 9-11 m. high (up to 25 m. where indigenous).  The larger leaves are up to 30 cm long, with 16-36 (-46) pairs of leaflets gradually decrescent toward base and apex of leaf, and the largest leaflets are up to 46 x 13 mm.  The flowers have greenish to yellow sepals, the largest (inner) one up to 7.5 mm long, and the yellow petals are as long as 16-26 mm."  Subspecies lindleyana differs from subsp. multijuga in having its stipules setiform, not more than 0.6 mm broad at base, and with plane margins (rather than, as in subsp. multijuga, asymmetrically dilated and 0.8-2.5 mm broad at base and undulately crimped or folded" (Smith, 1985; p. 115).

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Northern half of South America (Herbarium Pacificum Staff, 1998; p. 10).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1985) (p. 115) subsp. lindleyana (Gardner) Irwin & Barneby var. lindleyana Irwin & Barneby; vouchers cited: DA 13856 (DF 298), Damanu 26, DF 308, DF 344, Damanu 31
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Herbarium Pacificum Staff (1998) (p. 10) Voucher cited: D. Lorence & T. Flynn 6626 (PTBG, US) Spreading from a grove of 5 large planted trees.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced cultivated	Herbarium Pacificum Staff (1998) (p. 10) Voucher cited: A.F. Judd 61 (BISH)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 73) Voucher cited: MacKee 12634

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Senna multijuga is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Senna multijuga as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Senna multijuga may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Herbarium Pacificum Staff. 1998. New Hawaiian plant records for 1997. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1997. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 56:8-14.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Smith, Albert C. 1985. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 3. 758 pp.

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. 2005. A tropical garden flora: plants cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and other tropical places. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 908 pp.

U. S. Government. 2009. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2009. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.