Senna pendula

Common Name(s): climbing cassia

Non-Native to Florida

Origin: South America1

This species appears on the following legally prohibited plant lists

Federal Noxious Weed List Florida Noxious Weed List Florida Prohibited Aquatic Plants List
No No No

The UF/IFAS Assessment lists plants according to their invasive status in Florida.

CATEGORY I on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council’s (FLEPPC) 2017 List of Invasive Plant Species

Download a page (PDF) from Identification and Biology of Nonnative Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas – Second Edition1

Download a Recognition Card (PDF) Download a recognition card (PDF) from Invasive and Non-native Plants You Should Know2

Appearance

Sprawling evergreen shrub to 4 m (13 ft) tall (or wide), with somewhat zigzag, sparsely hairy stems.

Leaves

Leaves: Alternate, stalked, even-pinnately compound, with 3–6 pairs of leaflets; larger ones at leaf tip. Leaflets to 4 cm (1.6 in) long, oblong with rounded tips. Petioles with gland above, between lowermost leaflets and occasionally between others.

Flowers

Yellow or yellow-green, 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) across, in 3- to 12-flowered racemes near stem tips; stamens with prominent, curved filaments.

Fruit

A brown slender pod, cylindric, glabrous, 7–12 cm (3–5 in) long.

Ecological threat

Described as fast and strong in its growth. Displaces native vegetation in disturbed and undisturbed areas of Florida’s tropical hammocks, coastal strands, and canal banks. FLEPPC Category I

Distribution

C, SW, SE

Text from Invasive and Non-native Plants You Should Know – Recognition Cards 1

 

View more information and pictures about climbing cassia, as contained in the Langeland/Burks book, Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas.

View the herbarium specimen image from the University of Florida Herbarium Digital Imaging Projects.

 

 

Citations

1. Identification and Biology of Nonnative Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas – Second Edition,
by K.A. Langeland, H.M. Cherry, et al. University of Florida-IFAS Publication # SP 257. 2008.

2. Invasive and Non-native Plants You Should Know – Recognition Cards,
by A. Richard and V. Ramey. University of Florida-IFAS Publication # SP 431. 2007.

back to top