Popcorn Cassia

Senna didymobotrya (Fresenius) H.S. Irwin & Barneby

SEN-na di-di-mo-BOT-ria

Caesalpiniaceae (Legumes)

Key to Senna Mill.

Synonym: Cassia didymobotrya Fresen (basionym)

Explanation of name: Senna is a Greek work adapted from the Arabic word sana which means tender tree or shrub.(AUS,PBCC)   The Latin word dimus means in pairs and botryoides means cluster like.

Natural range: India, Sri Lanka, Malesia, tropical Africa (BA2)

Recognition: Shrub whose leaves have a strong popcorn aroma. Leaves pinnate with 7-10 pairs of oblong leaflets, 1"-2-1/2"long.  Flowers yellow, 1" wide, in erect spike-like racemes. Fruit oblong flat legume, 3"-4-1/2" long (BA2, HIC)

Landscape uses: Specimen shrub (PBCC).  Very fast-growing and aggressive, prone to breakage.