Senna leptoclada explained

Senna leptoclada is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Arnhem Land in northern Australia. It is a glaucous, erect to drooping shrub with pinnate leaves usually with two pairs of broadly elliptic leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of two or three, with ten fertile stamens in each flower.

Description

Senna leptoclada is a glaucous, erect to drooping shrub that typically grows to a height of up to . The leaves are long on a petiole long, usually with two pairs of broadly elliptic leaflets long and wide, spaced apart. The flowers are deep yellow and arranged in groups of two or three in leaf axils along the branches, on a peduncle long, each flower on a pedicel long. The petals are long and there are ten fertile stamens in each flower, the anthers long and of different lengths. Flowering occurs in autumn and spring and the fruit is a flat pod long and about wide.[1] [2] [3]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1864 by George Bentham who gave it the name Cassia leptoclada in Flora Australiensis, from specimens collected in the Gulf of Carpentaria by Robert Brown.[4] In 1998, Barbara Rae Randell transferred the species to Senna as Senna leptoclada in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.[5] The specific epithet (leptoclada) means "thin-stemmed".[6]

Distribution and habitat

Senna leptoclada is only known from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Senna leptoclada . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 2 August 2023.
  2. Book: Bentham . George . Flora Australiensis . 2 . 1864 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 290 . 2 August 2023.
  3. Randell . Barbara R. . Revision of Cassiinae in Australia 2. Senna Miller sect. Psilorhegma (J.Vogel) Irwin & Barneby. . Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens . 1989 . 12 . 2 . 258–259 . 2 August 2023.
  4. Web site: Cassia leptoclada . Australian Plant Name Index . 2 August 2023.
  5. Web site: Senna leptoclada . Australian Plant Name Index . 2 August 2023.
  6. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 239 . 3rd.