''Senna gaudichaudii'', also known by many common names, including kolomana in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and as blunt-leaved senna in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

and is native to some

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

including Hawaii, parts of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

in Australia. It is shrub or small tree 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 ...

leaves, usually with three to five pairs of oblong to egg-shaped leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of four to ten, with ten fertile

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s in each flower.

Description

''Senna gaudichaudii'' is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of , sometimes a tree-top vine. Its new growth is sometimes covered with soft, golden-yellow hairs. The leaves are pinnate, long on a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

long, usually with three to five pairs of oblong to egg-shaped leaflets, the narrower end towards the base. The leaflets are mostly long and wide, usually spaced apart. There are up to three stalked

glands A gland is a Cell (biology), cell or an Organ (biology), organ in an animal's body that produces and secretes different substances that the organism needs, either into the bloodstream or into a body cavity or outer surface. A gland may also funct ...

between the lowest pairs of leaflets. The flowers are yellow and arranged in upper leaf axils in groups of four to ten 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, the

anthers The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filamen ...

about long. Flowering occurs from February to October in Australia, and the fruit is a flat pod long, about wide and slightly curved.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1832 by

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botany, botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew Gardens, Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botan ...

and

George Arnott Walker Arnott George Arnott Walker Arnott of Arlary (6 February 1799 – 17 April 1868) was a Scottish botanist. He collaborated with botanists from around the world and served as a regius professor of botany at the University of Glasgow. An orchid genus ' ...

, who gave it the name ''Cassia gaudichaudii'' in ''The Botany of Captain Beechey's Voyage''. In 1982, Howard Samuel Irwin and

Rupert Charles Barneby Rupert Charles Barneby (6 October 1911 – 5 December 2000) was a British-born self-taught botanist whose primary specialty was the Fabaceae (Leguminosae), the pea family, but he also worked on Menispermaceae and numerous other groups. He was emp ...

transferred the species to the genus '' Senna'' as ''S. gaudichaudii'' in ''

Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''gaudichaudii'') honours

Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré (September 4, 1789 – January 16, 1854) was a French botanist. Biography Gaudichaud was born in Angoulême, to J-J. Gaudichaud and Rose (Mallat) Gaudichaud. He studied pharmacology informally at Cognac and Angoulême, ...

. This species is also known by the common names kolomana, kalamona, keuhiuhi, uhiuhi and heuhiuhi in Hawaii, and as climbing senna and Gaudichaud's senna in Australia.

Distribution and habitat

''Senna gaudichaudii'' occurs in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, Hawaii,

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

, the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

Pitcairn Island Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands, in the southern Pacific Ocean, of which many inhabitants are descendants of mutineers of HMS ''Bounty''. Geography The island is of volcanic origin, with a rugged cliff ...

, Queensland, the

Society Islands The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...

Tubuai Tupuai ( ) is the main island of the Austral Island group, located south of Tahiti. In addition to Tubuai, the group of islands include Rimatara, Rurutu, Raivavae, Rapa and the uninhabited Îles Maria. They are part of the Austral Islands ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. In Hawaii, this species inhabits dry, sheltered locations on rocky slopes, and disturbed sites. It is found on all Hawaiian islands apart from

Niihau Niihau (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Niihau ( ), is the seventh largest island in Hawaii and the westernmost of the main islands. It is southwest of Kauai, Kauai across the Channels of the Hawaiian Islands#Kaulakahi Channel, Ka ...

and

Kahoʻolawe Kahoolawe (Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Kahoolawe ( ), is the smallest of the eight main volcanic islands of the Hawaiian Islands. Unpopulated, it lies about southwest of Maui. The island is long by wide, with a total land area of . Its highes ...

, and from almost sea level to . In Australia, the species grows in forest and drier places in rainforest in coastal and subcoastal eastern Queensland and

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7450832 gaudichaudii Plants described in 1982 Flora of Fiji Flora of Hawaii Flora of New Caledonia Flora of the Pitcairn Islands Flora of Queensland Flora of the Tubuai Islands Flora of Vanuatu Fabales of Australia Flora without expected TNC conservation status Taxa named by George Arnott Walker Arnott Taxa named by William Jackson Hooker