Senna surattensis

Senna surattensis

Glacous cassia or glossy shower, scrambled egg plant (Senna surattensis (Burm.f.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby 1982) is an arboreal species belonging to the Fabaceae family.

Systematic –
From a systematic point of view it belongs to:
Eukaryota domain,
Kingdom Plantae,
Division Magnoliophyta,
Class Magnoliopsida,
Fabales Order,
Family Fabaceae,
Subfamily Caesalpinioideae,
Senna genre,
S. surattensis species.
The term is basionym:
– Cassia surattensis Burm.f..
The terms are synonymous:
– Cassia fastigiata Vahl;
– Cassia galuca Lam.;
– Cassia galuca var. koenigii Kurz;
– Cassia galuca var. suffruticosa (Roth) Baker;
– Cassia glauca var. koenigii Kurz;
– Cassia glauca var. suffruticosa (J.Koenig ex Roth) Baker;
– Cassia spinigera var. suffruticosa (J.Koenig ex Roth) Ali;
– Cassia suffruiticosa Roth;
– Cassia suffruticosa J.Koenig ex Roth;
– Cassia suffruticosa Konig;
– Cassia surattensis Burm.f.;
– Cassia surattensis subsp. suffruticosa (J.Koenig ex Roth) K.Larsen & S.S.Larsen;
– Cassia surattensis var. suffruticosa (J.Koenig ex Roth) Chatterjee;
– Cassia surattensis var. suffruticosa (Konig ex Roth) Sealy;
– Cassia surattensis var. suffruticosa (Konig ex Roth) Sealy ex Isely, 1975;
– Cassia surattensis var. suffruticosa (Roth) Ali;
– Psilorhegma suffruticosa (J.Koenig ex Roth) Britton;
– Senna surattensis var. suffruticosa (Roth) H.S.Irwin & Barneby;
– Senna surattensis var. suffruticosa (Roth) Isely.

Etymology –
The term Senna comes from the Arabic “sanā”, the vernacular name of Senna spectabilis.
The specific epithet surattensis is in reference to the city of Surat (once called Suratte) in the state of Gujarat, India, the presumed place of origin.

Geographic Distribution and Habitat –
Senna surattensis is a plant of unknown origin; however, it is believed to be native to the Bismarck Archipelago, Australia (Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory), Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Irian Jaya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam.
Its habitat is that of teak forests and marshy lands, at altitudes up to 300 meters.

Description –
Senna surattensis is a plant that grows in the form of a small tree or shrub. It is an evergreen species, with an upright habit, 5-8 m tall and dense, rounded foliage.
The bark is smooth, greyish-brown in colour, which tends to crack slightly with age.
The leaves are borne by a 2-3 cm long petiole; they are alternate, paripinnate, 10-15 cm long, with pubescent rachis, linear stipules, 0.5-1 cm long, and 7-9 pairs of opposite oblong-elliptic leaflets with rounded apex, 2.5-5 cm long and wide 1-1.6 cm, intense green in color and glabrous above, glaucous and slightly pubescent below. A gland, about 1 mm long, is present at the base of the pedicel of the first 2-3 pairs of leaflets.
The inflorescences are racemose; they form in the axil of the terminal leaves on a peduncle 2-5 cm long, carrying 10-15 bisexual flowers, 3-5 cm in diameter, of a bright yellow color with 5 unequal, almost elliptical sepals, 0.3-0.0 cm long, 6 cm, 5 unequal petals from ovate to obovate, 1.5-2 cm long, and 10 fertile stamens.
The fruit is a dehiscent, flat, pendulous legume, 6-12 cm long and 0.8-1.5 cm wide.
Inside there are 10-30 flattened oblong seeds, about 0.6 cm long, of a shiny blackish colour.

Cultivation –
Senna surattensis is a plant that is collected in the wild for local use as food and medicine, but also cultivated as an ornamental throughout the tropics.
It is a popular ornamental plant in places like Hawaii, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, due to its tolerance of sulfur dioxide pollution.
It is an easy-to-grow plant that grows in tropical areas and, in any case, in areas where the minimum temperatures do not fall below -2 °C.
For cultivation it requires full sun, or at most light shade, and draining soils, even poor, from slightly acidic to alkaline, it has a high resistance to urban pollution, moderate to saltiness and, well rooted, to periods of drought, but grows best in rich soils kept constantly moist.
It can also be cultivated in large containers for the decoration of greenhouses and winter gardens at the maximum possible brightness and with minimum temperature values preferably above 14 °C.
It is a fast-growing plant widely spread for ornamental purposes due to its brilliant flowering, which continues for most of the year, in parks and gardens and as street trees in tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate climate zones, where it can also behave from semi-deciduous; in many places where it has naturalized it is considered potentially invasive.
Although many species of the Fabaceae family have a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria, this species appears to lack such a relationship and therefore does not fix atmospheric nitrogen.
Reproduction usually occurs by seed; this must be previously scarified to accelerate the germination process, in draining soil kept humid at a temperature of 24-26 °C, with germination times of 3-4 weeks and first flowering after 2-3 years.

Customs and Traditions –
Senna surattensis is a plant known by various names; among these we report: glacous cassia, glossy shower, scrambled egg plant (English); huang huai jue ming (China); kolomona (Hawai’i); kembang kuning (Indonesia); gelenggang (Malaysia); chile-ban, songbadan (Thailand).
The young leaves of this are locally consumed cooked as a vegetable; various parts of the plant are used in traditional medicine for various pathologies, flowers and legumes as purgatives.
The plant is also used for medicinal purposes.
Other uses include, in addition to ornamental ones, agroforestry ones. This plant is often planted between the rows of young teak plantations and used as a shade tree in the Philippines.

Preparation Method –
Senna surattensis is a plant used for both food and medicinal purposes.
In the food sector, the young leaves are cooked and eaten as vegetables.
In the medicinal field, a decoction of the roots is prepared which is used against gonorrhea.
The leaves are used in the treatment of dysentery.
Furthermore, the flowers are purgative.

Guido Bissanti

Sources
– Acta Plantarum – Flora of the Italian Regions.
– Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
– GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
– Useful Tropical Plants Database.
– Conti F., Abbate G., Alessandrini A., Blasi C. (ed.), 2005. An annotated checklist of the Italian vascular flora, Palombi Editore.
– Pignatti S., 1982. Flora d’Italia, Edagricole, Bologna.
– Treben M., 2000. Health from the Lord’s Pharmacy, Advice and experiences with medicinal herbs, Ennsthaler Editore.

Photo source:
– https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/165631917/original.jpeg
– https://cyberfloralouisiana.com/images/LSUCollections/Vascular/LSU/00/096/LSU00096112_L.JPG

Attention: Pharmaceutical applications and food uses are indicated for informational purposes only, they do not represent in any way a medical prescription; we therefore decline any responsibility for their use for healing, aesthetic or food purposes.