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Cassia sieberiana Dc.

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Cassia

Characteristics

Shrub or small tree 2–12 m. high (said in F.C.B. to reach 20 m.).. Bark grey to brown or almost black.. Young branchlets rather densely pubescent.. Leaves with petiole and rhachis eglandular, the latter (10–)13–29 cm. long. Leaflets in usually 4–12 pairs (to 14, fide I.T.U.), petiolulate, elliptic to ovate-elliptic or sometimes obovate-elliptic, (2.5–)3.5–9.5 cm. long, 2–5 cm. wide, densely appressed-puberulous beneath, ± crisped-puberulous above.. Racemes 15–42 cm. long, pendulous, mostly simple, single and lateral.. Bracts persist-ing till the flowers are open.. Petals yellow, (1–)2–3.5 cm. long, (0.7–)1–2.5 cm. wide.. Stamens 10; filaments of 3 lower each with an S-bend near base, without a swelling above.. Pods cylindrical, 30–90 cm. long, 1–1.7 cm. in diameter, glabrous, blackish-brown, cylindrical, transversely but not longitudinally partitioned within.. Seeds not embedded in pulp, brown, ellipsoid or ovoid-ellipsoid, 8–9 × 4.5–7 × 2.5–4 mm., with slight reticulate cracking.
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A tree that loses its leaves during the dry season. It grows 10-20 m high. The bark is dark grey and wrinkled. The leaflet stalks are 20-30 cm long with 7-10 pairs of leaflets. They are 5-10 cm long by 3-5 cm wide. The flowers are bright yellow and attractive. They are in groups that can be upright or hanging. These groups are 30-50 cm long. The fruit is a long pods. It is dark brown and 40-80 cm long. It has division between the seeds.
Pendulous laburnum-like yellow flower-racemes, and black fruits; flowering in dry season, often when leafless
A tree, to 50 ft. high
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 15.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer present
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Wooded grassland and savannah; secondary bush; lateritic soils; roadsides; gravel and ± concrete colluvium with clay; gallery forest; wet sites in short and long grass savannah; thickets; secondary (closed) forest; coastal scrub; sandstone plateaux.
More
A tropical plant. It is best in well-drained humid soils. It needs at least 500 mm of rain each year. It grows in savannah woodland and palm groves. It is often along river banks. It grows in the Sahel.
Common in savannah.
Light 7-9
Soil humidity 1-6
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 10-12

Usage

The sweet extract from the stems is eaten.
Uses environmental use food fuel material medicinal ornamental poison shade social use vertebrate poison wood
Edible leaves roots stems
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

It can be grown from seeds. The seeds need to be soaked in boiling water then left to cool down before sowing. Plants can be cut back and allowed to regrow.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) 7 - 90
Germination temperacture (C°) 21 - 23
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment soaking
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Cassia sieberiana habit picture by Denis Bastianelli (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Cassia sieberiana leaf picture by Alassane Mbengue (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Cassia sieberiana world distribution map, present in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Chad, Togo, and Uganda

Conservation status

Cassia sieberiana threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:485224-1
WFO ID wfo-0000164753
COL ID RM4X
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Cassia sieberiana Cassia kotschyana Cathartocarpus sieberianus Cassia conspicua Cathartocarpus conspicuus
WorldFloraDB 2024