Volume 4 > Part 1 > Year 1984 > Page 113 > Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae > Cassia

11. Cassia hirsuta L.wfo-0000163963

Sp. Pl.: 378. 1753; Baker in Hook.f., Fl. Br. Ind. 2: 263. 1878; Gagnep. In Fl. Gén. I.-C. 2: 166. 1913; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 1: 618. 1922; de Wit, Webbia 11: 250. 1955; K.Larsen & S.S.Larsen in Fl. C.L.V. 18: 92. 1980. Fig. 28: 1.

Accepted Name : Senna hirsuta (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
Phytologia 44: 499. 1979.

Description : Herb or undershrub up to 2.5 m high, hirsute, with a foetid smell. Leaves with 4–5 pairs (rarely more or less) of subopposite or opposite leaflets. Petioles 5–6 cm, villous with a sessile, oblong gland above the joint; rhachis 7–10 cm. Stipules linear, acute, hairy, ± caduceus, 5–15 mm long. Leaflets lanceolate-acuminate, 5–9 by 2–3 cm, hirsute on both surfaces; apex acute, base rounded; the upper pairs largest; petiolules short. Racemes few-flowered, short, from the upper leaf-axils. Bracts 4–5mm long, hirsute. Flowers on a 1–2 cm pubescent, filiform pedicel. Sepals unequal; 2 outer small, orbicular, 5–6 mm; 3 inner larger, 7–9 mm. Petals yellow, unequal, obovate, 15–28 mm long, glabrous, short-clawed. Stamens 10, 2 large with flat filaments 5–7 mm long, anthers curved, 7–8 mm, opening by apical pores; 4 smaller opening the same way; reduced stamens 4, 3 mm long. Ovary grayish woolly, recurved; style glabrous; stigma slightly enlarged, ciliate. Pods falcate to nearly straight, 6–13 by 0.5 cm, hirsute, angulate. Seeds numerous dark olive, orbicular, ca 3 mm diam.

Thailand : Found all over the country as a weed, but not common.

Distribution : Originating from tropical America (type not designated). Now as a weed in many places in the tropics but not very common.

Ecology : Mainly around villages as a ruderal, and mainly at lower altitudes. Flowering throughout the year.

Vernacular : Phong pheng (โผงเผง)(Northern); dap phit (ดับพิษ)(Peninsular); si-soe-phli (ซีเซอะพลี), ti-choe (ตีเจ้อ)(Karen-Southwestern).

Uses: Decoction of leaves used against irritation of skin in the peninsular region.