Senna italica flowers and buds

Senna italica flowers grow in racemes from leaf axils and stem tips. Flowers are bisexual and zygomorphic (laterally symmetric), its sepals and petals growing in fives.

There are usually ten stamens, the lowest two the largest. There are five medium-sized ones and the remaining three stamens short and sterile. The style is up to 6 mm long upon the superior ovary covered in short, stiff hair.

The rounded yellow petals are large compared to the tiny sepals. Olive-green to brown buds at the top wait to open, while tiny fruit pods have formed below. Style remains on the developing pods curve ostentatiously from their tips, adding embellishment of a post-floral kind.

The raceme is erect, while most of the plant’s branches recline.

These flowers were photographed in Mjejane Game Reserve during December (Pooley, 1998; Van Wyk and Gericke, 2000; iSpot; JSTOR; Wikipedia).