Senna alata

Common Name: candlestick plant

Family: Fabaceae

Common Synonyms: Cassia alata

USDA Hardiness Zone: 10a-11

Growth Habit: Shrub

Origin: Tropical America

FISC Category: -

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: Earliest Florida specimen available vouchered in 1964

IFAS Assessment:

• North: CAUTION
• Central: CAUTION
• South: CAUTION

Description

Evergreen shrub 3-5 m tall and 3 m wide. Leaves pinnate, up to 75 cm long. Leaflets in 7-14 pairs, oblong to obovate, 8-20 cm long and 3-10 cm wide. Inflorescence an erect axillary raceme 15-60 cm tall, arising from leaf axil, resembling a candle with bottom flowers opening first. Flowers bright yellow, 2.5 cm across, cup-shaped, petals 5. Sepals waxy and smooth to the touch. Fruit straight or slightly curved, 4-winged pod 10-20 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, dark brown to black when mature. Seeds 50 to 60 per fruit, flattened, triangular, to 6 mm long.

Habitat

Disturbed areas

Comments

Dies if frozen but can grow back from seeds.

Control Methods

• Manual: Mechanical: Isolated plants can be dug out and roots removed. Follow up is vital to control seedling recruitment and regrowth after a site has been treated.
• Chemical: Fluroxypyr 200 g/L. Use as foliar spray on young and mature plants. Mature plants - basal bark on < 10 cm stem diameter, treat up to 45 cm from ground, cut stump on > 10 cm stem diameter.
• Biological: NA

Control Notes

NA

References

Dave's Garden. 2014. PlantFiles: Candle bush, Senna alata. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/371/. Accessed on June 23, 2014.

Floridata. 2014. Senna alata. http://www.floridata.com/ref/S/senn_ala.cfm. Accessed on June 24, 2014.

Hawaiian Plants and Tropical Flowers. Senna alata. 2014. http://wildlifeofhawaii.com/flowers/996/senna-alata-emperors-candlesticks/. Accessed on June 24, 2014.

North Territory Government. Department of Land Resource Management. Candle bush Weed Note. 2013. http://www.lrm.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/19159/weed_note_candle_bush_2013.pdfAccessed on June 24, 2014.