AgroForestryTree Database
Senna hirsuta
 Species identityEcology and distributionPropagation and managementFunctional usesPests and diseasesAdditional InfoBibliographyImages |
Species identity
TaxonomySynonym(s)
Common names
(Filipino) : katanda, woolly wild sensitive plant
(Indonesian) : kasingsat (Sundanese)
(Malay) : kacang kayu
(Thai) : dapphit (peninsular)
(Vietnamese) : mu[oof]ng r[uwf]ng
Botanic description
Erect or diffuse, simple or several-stemmed herb, up to 2.5 m tall, becoming softwoody with age, with a fetid smell, hairy but highly diverse in pubescence; twigs grooved and ribbed, densely hairy. Leaves simply paripinnate, 10-20 cm long; stipules linear-acute, 3-15 mm long, usually not persisting; petiole stout, up to 6.5 cm long, villose, above the insertion with a sessile, oblong gland; rachis 3-16 cm long, glandless; petiolules up to 3.5 mm long, slender, villose, often not quite opposite; leaflets 2-8 pairs, strongly accrescent distally, chartaceous, lanceolate-acuminate, 2-12.5 cm x 1-5 cm, 2-6 times as long as wide, slightly unequal-sided, base acute or rounded, dark green, roughly villose on both surfaces. Inflorescence an axillary or rarely terminal, 2-8 flowered raceme (up to 45 in South America), 1(-8) cm long, aggregate in leafy panicles; peduncle up to 3 cm long; bracts linear to lanceolate, 1.5-5 mm long, early caducous; bracteoles absent; pedicel 1-2.5 cm long, pubescent; sepals 5, unequal, 2 outer ones small, orbicular, 4-7 mm long, hairy, 3 inner ones larger, 7-10 mm long, partly glabrous; petals 5, unequal, obovate, 8-28 m long, yellow, glabrous, short-clawed; stamens 10, 2 large with flat filaments 4-7 mm long and curved anthers 7-8 mm long opening by apical pores, 4 smaller and 4 staminodial; ovary woolly, recurved; style short, glabrous with hairy subapical stigma. Fruit a falcate to straight angular pod, 6-28 cm x 3-7 mm, septate, 50-90 seeded, strigose. Seed slightly compressed, orbicular, about 3 mm in diameter, dark olive coloured; areole narrowly elliptical, 0.5-2.5 mm long. S. hirsuta is very variable and 7 varieties have been distinguished for South America. In South-East Asia, 2 varieties occur: var. Hirsuta (widespread as a weed in South East Asia and the rest of the Old World tropics; fruit straight, 11-15 cm x 4-6.5 mm, bristly-hirsute) and var. puberula Irwin & Barneby (widespread in South America, but in South-East Asia only present in the Philippines as a weed, fruit simply arched outward, 15-25 cm x 3-6 mm). The synonymous name Cassia hirsuta is still commonly used in the literature. Until the beginning of the 1980s, Cassia L. was considered to be a genus with over 500 species.
Ecology and distribution
Natural HabitatIn South-East Asia S. hirsuta is found in plains and hilly areas. It grows spontaneously in waste locations, along roadsides, railway embankments, dry ditches and in secondary forest. It is found in gardens and fields as a weed and prefers open locations.
Native of tropical America and is now distributed throughout Malesia, Indo-China, Thailand and most other countries in the Asian and African tropics. In Java, where it has long been known and has naturalized, it is more common in West Java than towards the east.
Biophysical limitsAltitude: Up to about 700 m.
Reproductive Biology
In South-East Asia S. hirsuta flowers throughout the year. The usually numerous fruits are curved when young and straight when mature; They are characterized by somewhat raised, glabrescent sutures and woolly strigose sides.
Propagation and management
Propagation methodsS. hirsuta is propagated by seed.Tree Management
Husbandry: As a green manure S. hirsuta is fast growing, easy to cut, coppices well and can produce considerable amounts of foliage material in a growth cycle of 8 months. Observations in Central Africa indicate that is competes poorly with weeds.
Germplasm Management
The weight of 1000 seeds is 4 g.
Functional uses
ProductsFodder: As forage plant. Food: The leaves and young pods are eaten, usually steamed or cooked in vegetable dishes or in salads. The unpleasant smell can be reduced by relatively long cooking. Medicine: In Java the leaves are used medicinally for treating herpes. A decoction of the leaves is used against irritations of the skin in Thailand. Other products: In Laos the seeds are used as a substitute for coffee.Services
Shade or shelter: In Africa it is planted as a shade plant in young coffee plantations. Soil improver: As green manure.
Pests and diseasesDiseases: S. hirsuta is very susceptible to Corticium salmonicolor and is also affected by a root desease (Rosellina sp.) and by Sclerotium rolfsii.
Additional Information
PropertiesGum or resin and Medicine: The seed contains a water-soluble gum, though not in commercial quantities; it also contains a bi-anthraquinone and a tri-terpenoid, which may prove medicinally important.
Trade
S. hirsuta is very occasionally sold in village markets, but there are no production data.
Prospects
S. hirsuta is one of the Senna species which has been proposed as a green manure crop. However, research has so far not confirmed its potential for green manure, pasture or forage.