Senna italicaMill.

Port Royal senna

WFO wfo-0000164042 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Senna italica, photographed by Noeleen du Toit
fig. a Noeleen du Toit, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-04-06 / obs. 186521259
Senna italica, photographed by Mahomed Desai
fig. b Mahomed Desai, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169561325
Senna italica, photographed by Morten Ross
fig. c Morten Ross, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 246881665
Senna italica, photographed by Jacky Judas
fig. d Jacky Judas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 725711
Senna italica, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. e Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 30311484
Senna italica, photographed by Jacky Judas
fig. f Jacky Judas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 115521816
Senna italica, photographed by Matthew Fainman
fig. g Matthew Fainman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 59561502
Senna italica, photographed by Karim Haddad
fig. h Karim Haddad, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 57040269

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 46 botanical countries

Regions where Senna italica is native: Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gambia, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zimbabwe, Gulf States, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Yemen, India, Pakistan, West Himalaya AlgeriaAngolaBotswanaBurkinaCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadDjiboutiEgyptEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGambiaKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLibyaMaliMauritaniaMoroccoMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSenegalSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaWestern SaharaZimbabweGulf StatesIranIraqLebanon-SyriaOmanPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiYemenIndiaPakistanWest Himalaya Cape Verde
Native distribution of Senna italica, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Angola ANG
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Cape Verde CVI
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Djibouti DJI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gambia GAM
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Libya LBY
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Morocco MOR
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Senegal SEN
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Western Sahara WSA
Zimbabwe ZIM
Gulf States GST ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Yemen YEM
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 71 in flower of 100 examined

Peak flowering in Jan. Each bar is the share of Senna italica observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 71 of 100 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 3 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 21 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cassia arachoides Burch.
  • Cassia aschrek Forssk.
  • Cassia buchananii Kostel.
  • Cassia burmanni Wall.
  • Cassia burmanni Wight
  • Cassia italica (Mill.) Spreng.
  • Cassia italica (Mill.) F.W.Andrews
  • Cassia italica subsp. arachoides Burch.
  • Cassia italica subsp. italica
  • Cassia italica subsp. micrantha Brenan
  • Cassia ligustrina Mill.
  • Cassia lucida Dehnh.
  • Cassia obovata Collad.
  • Cassia obtusa Roxb. ex Wight
  • Cassia obtusa Roxb.
  • Cassia obtusata Hayne
  • Cassia porturegalensis Bancr. ex Macfad.
  • Cassia porturegalis Bancr.
  • Senna obovata Link
  • Senna obtusa Roxb.
  • Senna obtusata Link

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.