Senna didymobotrya

African senna

Family: Fabaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

African senna is a naturalized shrub found in southern central Coast Ranges, typically occurring in disturbed areas at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from March to October, this strongly scented plant produces yellow flowers in clustered racemes with distinctive brown to black-green bracts. Growing as an unarmed, leafy shrub 1 to 2 meters tall with hairy stems, it develops a dense, branching structure. Its compound leaves feature 14 to 20 overlapping leaflets, each 2 to 6.5 centimeters long, with oblong to elliptic shapes and abrupt tips. The shrub produces elongated dehiscent fruits 8 to 12 centimeters long with distinctive transverse partitions between seeds.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Oct

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: s CCo, expected elsewhere

California counties: San Diego, Orange, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.