Senna obtusifolia

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Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Senna obtusifolia (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

Synonyms: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)

Cassia obtusifolia L. (nomenclatural synonym)
Cassia tora var. obtusifolia (L.) Haines (nomenclatural synonym)

Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Cassia tora L. (pro parte misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), NT (naturalised), Qld (naturalised)

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NT eFlora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (18), Cooper_2013 (11), Crowley_2007 (2), NTH_2022 (3), NTH_2023 (15), Nano_2011 (2), Schmidt_2003 (13), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 33 traits from 81 records in 13 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response

resprouting_capacity (categorical): fire_killed (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 101.63 mm (4.3-180 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 2.17 mm (0.5-3 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 3 mm (3-3 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): legume (5) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006; WAH_2023_2]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): brown (1) [sources: NTH_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 45.75 mm (21-67 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 24.5 mm (12-36 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): obovate (2); spathulate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): oblique (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (3); shrub (4); subshrub (2) [sources: ABRS_2022; Cooper_2013; NTH_2022; Schmidt_2003; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): annual (3); perennial (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; Schmidt_2003; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3); woody (2); woody_base (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1); spreading (2) [sources: ABRS_2022; WAH_2022_2]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnyyyyyynnn (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
bud_bank_location (categorical): none (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 46.1 mg/g (46-46.2 mg/g) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
leaf_delta13C (numerical): -31.98 {delta}[ppth] (-31.98--31.98 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Schmidt_2003]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 2 m (2-2 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
ABRS_2023	12	18	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NTH_2023	12	15	D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Schmidt_2003	10	13	S. Schmidt and G. R. Stewart. “d15N values of tropical savanna and monsoon forest species reflect root specialisations and soil nitrogen status”. Oecologia 134 (2003), pp. 569-577. doi: 10.1007/s00442-002-1150-y.
Cooper_2013	9	11	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
ABRS_2022	4	4	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Sjostrom_2006	4	4	A. Sjöström and C. L. Gross. “Life-history characters and phylogeny are correlated with extinction risk in the Australian angiosperms”. Journal of Biogeography 33.2 (2006), pp. 271-290. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01393.x.
WAH_2022_2	4	4	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
NTH_2022	3	3	D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Crowley_2007	2	2	G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Nano_2011	2	2	C. E. M. Nano and P. J. Clarke. “How do drought and fire influence the patterns of resprouting in Australian deserts?”. Plant Ecology 212 (2011), pp. 2095-2110. doi: 10.1007/s11258-011-9988-x.
WAH_2023_2	2	2	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.