Rainforest senna | |
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In the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Caesalpinioideae |
Genus: | Senna |
Species: | S. acclinis |
Binomial name | |
Senna acclinis | |
Synonyms [1] | |
Cassia acclinisF.Muell. |
Senna acclinis, commonly known as rainforest cassia [2] or brush senna, [3] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to near-coastal areas of eastern Australia. It is a shrub with pinnate leaves and bright golden yellow flowers in groups of two to five and long, narrow seed pods. It is similar to other species of Senna that are environmental weeds.
Senna acclinis is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 3 m (9.8 ft). Its leaves are pinnate, up to 150 mm (5.9 in) long on a petiole 20–40 mm (0.79–1.57 in) long, with five to seven pairs of broadly elliptic leaflets up to 50 mm (2.0 in) long and 15 mm (0.59 in) wide. There is a gland between the lower one to four pairs of leaflets. From two to five bright golden yellow flowers are arranged on a peduncle 20–40 mm (0.79–1.57 in) long, each flower with ten fertile stamens, the anthers usually of unequal lengths and 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long. Flowering occurs in spring and summer the fruit is a more or less flat pod 120–150 mm (4.7–5.9 in) long and 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) wide that ripens in summer and autumn. This species can be mistaken for other introduced Senna species that are environmental weeds. [4] [2] [5]
Rainforest senna was first formally described in 1863 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Cassia acclinis in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae . [6] [7] In 1998, Barbara Rae Randell and Bryan Barlow changed the name to Senna acclinis in Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden . [8] [9]
Senna acclinis is found in near-coastal areas of New South Wales and Queensland, growing in or on the edges of subtropical and dry rainforests. [10] [4] The plant is distributed in several subregions, including Barrington, Karuah Manning, Mummel Escarpment, Wyong, and Yengro. [11]
Senna acclinis is known to be a pollination plant for several insect species, including native bees [12] and the jack-jumper ant Myrmecia nigrocincta , which has been recorded several times visiting the flowers of S. acclinis. [13] Flowers sprout during springs and summer. [2]
The species has been classed as "endangered" under the New South Wales Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 . [14] [15] The main threats to S. acclinis are clearance of habitat for development, introduced and invasive species of weeds, timber harvesting activities, and accidental removal during weed-control programs. [4] [16]
Hymenosporum is a monotypic genus of trees in the family Pittosporaceae. The sole included species is Hymenosporum flavum, commonly known as native frangipani, found in the rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests of New Guinea, Queensland and New South Wales. Despite its common name, it is not closely related to the frangipani, but is related to the widespread genus Pittosporum.
Senna artemisioides, commonly known as silver cassia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia, where it is found in all mainland states and territories. It is a small, woody shrub with silver-green leaves and yellow flowers.
Leionema ambiens is a rare shrub growing in the Guyra district of New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. It has long stem clasping leaves and heads of white flowers in spring and early summer.
Phaleria clerodendron, commonly known as scented daphne, scented phaleria or rosy apple, is an evergreen tree or tall shrub in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is endemic to the rainforests of north-eastern Queensland, Australia.
Grevillea angustiloba, commonly known as dissected holly-leaf grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae, endemic to southern continental Australia. It is a prostrate, low-lying or erect shrub with deeply divided pinnate leaves and usually red, sometimes orange or pale yellow flowers.
Senna septemtrionalis, commonly known as arsenic bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is native to Central America, the southern United States and Mexico, but is naturalised in many other countries. It is an erect shrub with pinnate leaves, with four or five pairs of egg-shaped leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of five to eight, usually with seven fertile stamens and four staminodes in each flower.
Cupaniopsis wadsworthii, sometimes commonly named duckfoot, or dwarf tuckeroo, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry family and is endemic to Queensland. It is a slender shrub or small tree with paripinnate leaves with two to eight broadly wedge-shaped or broadly lobed leaflets, and separate male and female flowers arranged in raceme-like thyrses, the fruit a capsule with a seed with an orange aril.
Persoonia brachystylis is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a restricted area on the west coast of Western Australia. It is an erect, spreading shrub with smooth bark, narrow spatula-shaped to lance-shaped leaves and yellow flowers in groups of ten to twenty.
Flindersia bourjotiana, commonly known as Queensland silver ash, northern silver ash, or white ash, is a species of tree that is endemic to Queensland. It has pinnate leaves arranged in opposite pairs and with between four and eight narrow egg-shaped to elliptic leaflets, greenish white flowers arranged in panicles, and fruit studded with short, rough points.
Mackinlaya macrosciadea, commonly known as mackinlaya or blue umbrella, is a plant in the carrot, fennel and parsley family Apiaceae, found in the Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia.
Senna notabilis, commonly known as cockroach bush, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae, and is endemic to northern Australia. It is an erect, softly-hairy, annual or perennial shrub with pinnate leaves with six to twelve pairs of lance-shaped leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of twenty to thirty, with seven fertile stamens in each flower.
Senna cardiosperma is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the western half of Australia. It is an erect shrub or small tree with pinnate leaves, the number and shape of the leaflets depending on subspecies, yellow flowers with ten fertile stamens in each flower, and flat pods.
Senna clavigera, commonly known as pepper leaf senna, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a perennial herb with pinnate leaves with four to seven pairs of lance-shaped to elliptic leaflets, and groups of four to twenty yellow flowers in upper leaf axils.
Senna ferraria is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to north-western Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with pinnate leaves with three to four pairs of broadly elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of about twelve, with ten fertile stamens in each flower.
Senna glutinosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to central and northern arid areas of Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with pinnate leaves with up to seven pairs of leaflets, their shape depending on subspecies, and yellow flowers arranged in groups with ten fertile stamens in each flower.
Senna heptanthera is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Arnhem Land in the north of the Northern Territory. It is a creeping, herbaceous perennial with pinnate leaves with one or two pairs of broadly egg-shaped leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of eight to ten, with seven fertile stamens in each flower.
Senna magnifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is an erect, spreading or straggling, mostly glabrous shrub with pinnate leaves with four to six pairs of broadly oblong to round leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of twenty to sixty, with seven fertile stamens in each flower.
Senna oligoclada is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is an erect shrub with pinnate leaves with one to three pairs of elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of three to five with ten fertile stamens in each flower.
Senna pilocarina is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to inland Western Australia. It is a prostrate or upright, spreading shrub with pinnate leaves with five to nine pairs of oblong to wedge-shaped leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of four or five, with ten fertile stamens in each flower.
Senna pleurocarpa, commonly known as fire bush or chocolate bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a spreading shrub with pinnate leaves with five to seven pairs of broadly elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets, and groups of five to twelve yellow flowers arranged in dense groups of twenty to sixty on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils.