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Senna didymobotrya
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Family:
FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Caesalpinioideae)
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Citation: Senna didymobotrya (Fresen.) Irwin & Barneby, Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 467. 1982; V. Singh, Monogr. Indian Subtribe Cassiinae 131. 2001.
Cassia didymobotrya Frasen. Flora 22: 53. 1839; Matthew, Rec. Bot. Surv. India 20: 77. 1969.
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Malayalam Name(s):
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Popcorn Cassia, Peanut Butter Senna
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Description:
Large shrubs; branches pubescent. Leaves alternate, rachis(including petiole)25-45 cm long, terete; leaflets 8-17 pairs, 1-5.5 x 0.4-2 cm, oblong or elliptic-oblong, sometimes ovate-oblong to narrowly obovate, oblique at base, rounded-mucronate at apex, pilose on margins, pinninerved, reticulations immersed, glabrescent at age; petioles 3-8 cm long, pubescent; petiolules ca 1 mm long; stipules broadly ovate, foliaceous, 1-1.5 cm long, cordate-auriculate at base, reflexed, pubescent. Glands solitary or in groups, linear-subulate, between all pairs of leaflets or totally absent. Flowers in erect, 20-50 cm long, spike like racemes, axillary; peduncles 5-8 cm long, terete, pubescent; bracts 1-1.5 cm long, ovate, enclosing buds; bracteoles absent. Sepals narrowly ovate, 1-1.3 cm long. Petals delicately veined, 1.5-2.5 cm long, ovate or obovate, shortly clawed, yellow. Fertile stamens 7; anthers spurred at base, two almost semilunar, rest straight with recurved neck, all dehiscing by apical pores and basal slits; staminodes 3, anther-like. Ovary stipitate, silky tomentose; style glabrous, recurved; stigma punctiform. Pods 5-9 x 1.8-2.2 cm, linear-oblong, flat, stipitate, beaked, brown-black, dehiscing along sutures; valves corrugated over the seeds as a single ridge horizontal to the pod's long axis; seeds 10 to 14 flat, oblong; areole 4-5 x 1 mm, in the middle of each face; testa with reticulate or concentric striations.
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Habit:
Shrub
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Flowering & Fruiting:
October-March
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District(s):
Idukki, Palakkad
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Grown as garden plant, also as an escape in the High Ranges
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Distribution:
Native of tropical east Africa, introduced elsewhere
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Yellow
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
Yes
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Garden:
Yes
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Devicolam
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