Silver Cassia
Dried Pod
Ellura
Broad-leaf Desert Senna
Seedling
 
                      
Silver Cassia (Senna artemisioides ssp artemisioides)Class: Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida) - Shrubs & Bushes
Order: Legumes (Fabales)
Family: Legume (Fabaceae or Leguminosae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Silver Cassia (Senna artemisioides ssp artemisioides)
This Photo:     🔍Comparison S a filifolia & petiolaris🔎
Other name: Punty Bush

Thank you Jean-Philippe Basuyaux for confirming the id of this species for us

EXTRA - Photo Specific Information:
Here we have (left to right)
1 x Senna artemisioides ssp petiolaris
2 x S. a. filifolia
1 x S. a. artemisioides
General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Very similar to the Senna artemisioides ssp filifolia, but the leaves are not cylindrical; even though they look it from one side. They are heavily curved, like a new moon in cross section. The photo's tell the story easier than it is to describe them.
The leaves are also shorter, which reduces the spiky appearance.
Oops, forgot to mention; they also regularly have 4 leaflets (or more), not the 2 of filifolia.
They are very common on Ellura, with an estimated 30% of Senna artemisioides bushes being this sub-species.

Copyright © 2014-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 05-Feb-2014
This species is classed as DD (Data Deficient) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)