Senna covesii

Senna covesii

Common Name: Desert Senna, Coves' Cassia
O’odham Name: Ko'owĭ Ta:tam Audio
Group: Shrubs - Desert

Description

Senna covesii is a persistent annual or small shrub having relatively large, elliptical leaves with a dull green color. Flowers appear during the summer monsoon and have a sweet smell like bubble gum. Fruits are the typically long pod of a legume and containing numerous seeds, which are liberated after the pod dries and splits lengthwise. It grows in gravelly soils on hillsides and in alluvial fans at 1000 to 3000 ft elevation.

Classification

Kingdom Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass Rosidae
Order Fabales
Family Fabaceae – Pea family
Genus Senna Mill. – senna
Species Senna covesii (A. Gray) Irwin & Barneby – Coues' cassia

More Information

Arizona Distribution Map (USDA)