|
|
 Leaves Sue Carnahan @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial) |  Plants Desert Botanical Garden Herbarium Collection, Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial) |  Fruit Sue Carnahan @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial) | | | |
|
Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Perennial Similar Species: Senna bauhinioides
General Desc:
Freely branching small shrub with woody stems and whitish to grayish hairs throughout. Leaves have several pairs of small, oval leaflets. Saucer-like yellow flowers grow in clusters from the leaf axils (between the leaf and stem) or at the stem tops.
Identification notes: Slightly woody base, spreading, ascending stems; leaves, stems hairy; 2 to 4 leaflet pairs per leaf; small gland on leaf stems, between lowest 2 or 3 leaflet pairs; flowers in clusters of 3 to 7, 5-petaled, yellow, in leaf axils and on terminal stem.
Height:
To about 1-1/2 feet
Habitat Description: Found in gravelly and sandy soils in open areas on rocky slopes, desert washes, mesas, hillsides, plains and flats.
Plant Communities:
Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral
Elevation: 1000 - 3000 feet
Color:
Yellow
Shape:
Regular in elongated clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
Apr - Oct
Description:
Each flower has 5 rounded, yellow, 1/2 inch long petals with darker veins. Clawed (narrow abruptly at the base) petals. Petals overlap at first but open fully when mature allowing the 5 reddish, hairy, leaf-like sepals below the flower to be visible.
Leaf Color:
Grayish-green
Leaf Type:
Compound
Leaf Shape:
Round or oval
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Entire leaf is oblong in outline, feather-like in shape and up to 2 feet long. There are 2 to 4 (often 3) pairs of leaflets on each leaf. Oval leaflets have short stalks, are 1 to 2-3/4 inches long with rounded edges and a tiny pointed spike at the tip.
Fruit Color: Brown
Fruit Type: Pod
Fruit Notes: Fruit is dry, oblong-shaped with flat hairs, 3/4 to 2 inches long and 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide. It tapers off at the top forming a slender pointed tip 1/16 to 1/4 inch long. The ripe pod retains the seeds briefly giving it the name rattlebox or rattleweed.
Seed Notes: Seeds are about 1/8 inch long, irregularly angled and wrinkled. Seeds remain inside the pod even after it splits open and stay there until the pod is jostled by the wind or a passing animal. This allows the seeds to spill out far from the parent plant.
|
|
