Description: Small trees and tall shrubs, unarmed; root nodules absent.
Leaves alternate, paripinnate; pinnae 3–25 pairs, elliptic to obovate, glands absent from rachis.
Inflorescences terminal, racemose, erect or pendent. Sepals 5, subequal, green or yellowish. Petals 5 usually yellow, rarely pink or reddish. Stamens 10; anthers versatile, (3 upper reduced to staminodes, 4 lateral fertile and anthers with basal pores and on short filaments, 3 lower fertile and anthers with both basal and terminal pores and on very elongate S-curved filaments which often have a fleshy node near the middle).
Fruit a cylindrical woody pod, indehiscent, with transverse septae between the seeds.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 30 species, tropical America, Africa, Asia & Australia. Australia: 2 species (endemic), Qld & N.S.W.
Cassia fistula (Golden Shower, Pudding-pipe Tree) is grown as a street tree in subtropical areas of Aust. Senna and Chamaecrista were previously included in this genus.
Text by B. R. Randell
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Cassia marksiana |
|
