17- Fedegoso - Senna pendula (Humb. & Bonpl.ex Willd.) HSIrwin & amp; Barneby (Leguminosae)

 

Shrubs or trees, upright, from 2 to 3 m high. Branches with little hairiness. Leaves with stipules, composed, with 4 to 6 pairs of leaflets, from 4.5 to 13 cm, round or rounded, with the underside with hairs close to the base. Flowers at the tips of branches or leaf axils, in groups, yellow, with five petals. Fruits similar to pods, pendulums, straight, without hairiness, brown and dry when ripe.

 

Distribution: From Argentina to Mexico, present throughout the territory in disturbed areas and secondary vegetation.

 

Situation in São Paulo: Vegeta on the edges of roads, highways, vacant lots and fragments of cerrado.

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How to plant: From seeds, harvested from their broad beans, germination is fast and seems to grow daily.

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Uses: Occasionally used as an ornamental, its potential is underestimated. Pioneer, fast growing, used in reforestation projects. Extremely floriferous plant, it is exuberant with its yellow flowers, being greedily visited by bees and other pollinators. The name, as you say, indicates that the plant has a strong and bitter aroma, but I did not feel anything, perhaps because I saw it near the Tiête River, if it had any aroma it seemed pleasant.

 

TOZZI, AMGA (COORD.) 2016. CAESALPINIOIDEAE IN: TOZZI, AMGA, ET AL (EDS.) FLORA FANEROGÂMICA DO SÃO PAULO STATE. INSTITUTE OF BOTANICS, SÃO PAULO, VOL. 8, PP: 22-83