desert cassia senna polyphylla blooming with yellow colored five petaled flowers

navigate by keyword : yellow warty undefined twisted twigs trunk tree taproot system strong stem small slender shrub senna seed scaly round root raceme polyphylla plates plant petal ornamental moist maturity long linear light leguminosae legume leaves leaflets inflorescence gulmohar grouped green gray furrowed forest flower flattened five family fabaceae dry desert dark cultivated contort clustered cassia caribbean brown bark axillary

Desert Cassia (Senna polyphylla) blooming with yellow colored five-petaled flowers.

Desert Cassia (Senna polyphylla) is a shrub or occasionally a small tree of dry and moist forests of the middle Caribbean, now cultivated as an ornamental. It develops a root system with a strong taproot. Twigs are slender, warty, and light green, maturing to brown. Leaves are alternate or clustered three to five at the nodes. The five-petaled flowers are yellow in color and grouped in axillary racemes of mostly two flowers. The legume is linear, slightly contorted, flattened between the seeds, and dark brown at maturity. The seeds are round, flattened, and dark brown.