Wild senna

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Wild senna

Wild senna flowers

wild senna flowers

Wild senna inflorescence

Wild senna

Wild senna leaf

Wild senna

Wild senna

Wild senna pod

Morphology

Stem

Erect, little branched, glabrous or very sparsely pubescent, sometimes waxy.

Leaves

Alternate, even-pinnately compound, club-shaped gland near base of stalk; leaflets 5-10 pairs, oblong to elliptic, 1.2 to 2.4 inches long, .4 to 1 inch wide, glabrous, waxy beneath; base rounded; tip with short, abrupt projection; stipules linear-lanceolate, falling early.

Inflorescence

Racemes, short, several-flowered, in upper leaf axils or clustered terminally.

Flower

Sepals 5, united near base, ovate, 1/6 to 1/4 inch long, pale yellow, glabrous; tips blunt; petals 5, spreading, yellow, 1 petal slightly larger; stamens 10, dark reddish, lowest 3 with large anthers and filaments, 3 uppermost erect and much reduced; pistil slender; style curving up; ovary pubescent.

Fruit

Pods, flat, linear, often curved downward, 3 to 4 inches long, 1/3 to 1/2 inch wide, black at maturity, divided by partitions between seeds; seeds ovate, 1/5 inch long, black.

Ecology

Habitat

Prairie ravines, open woods, thickets, disturbed areas, and bases of slopes and bluffs; dry, gravelly soils.

Distribution

East 2/3 of Kansas.

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans used a poultice of root to treat sores and took a tea made from the roots for fevers and heart disorders.

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.