''Senna leptoclada'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

in northern Australia. It is a

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

, erect to drooping shrub with

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

leaves usually with two pairs of broadly elliptic leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of two or three, with ten fertile

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s in each flower.

Description

''Senna leptoclada'' is a glaucous, erect to drooping shrub that typically grows to a height of up to . The leaves are long on a petiole long, usually with two pairs of broadly elliptic leaflets long and wide, spaced apart. The flowers are deep yellow and arranged in groups of two or three in leaf axils along the branches, on a peduncle long, each flower on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long. The petals are long and there are ten fertile

s in each flower, the

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

long and of different lengths. Flowering occurs in autumn and spring and the fruit is a flat

pod Pod or POD may refer to: Biology * Pod (fruit), a type of fruit of a flowering plant * Husk or pod of a legume * Pod of whales or other marine mammals * "-pod", a suffix meaning "foot" used in taxonomy Electronics and computing * Proper ort ...

long and about wide.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1864 by George Bentham who gave it the name ''Cassia leptoclada'' in '' Flora Australiensis'', from specimens collected in the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...

by Robert Brown. In 1998,

Barbara Rae Randell Barbara Rae Randell (born:Barbara Rae Redgen 1942) is an Australian botanist. The author's international identifier on the International Plant Names Index is 25305–1. Randell described plants in the genera ''Senna'' and ''Acacia ''Acacia ...

transferred the species to ''Senna'' as ''Senna leptoclada'' in the ''

Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens The Adelaide Botanic Garden is a public garden at the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre, in the Adelaide Park Lands. It encompasses a fenced garden on North Terrace, Adelaide, North Terrace (between Lot Fourteen, the site of the old ...

''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''leptoclada'') means "thin-stemmed".

Distribution and habitat

''Senna leptoclada'' is only known from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q65948457 leptoclada Flora of the Northern Territory Plants described in 1864 Fabales of Australia Taxa named by George Bentham