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Spiny Senna
Senna armata
  
About Spiny Senna (Senna armata) 4 Nurseries Carry This Plant Senna armata is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names spiny senna and desert senna. It is native to the desert regions around the intersection of Nevada, Arizona, eastern California and northern Baja California, where it grows in sandy and rocky habitat, such as arroyos. It is a shrub growing up to a meter tall, its grooved, branching stems often narrowing to thorns at their tips. The spiny branches are coated in tubular hairs which help protect it from hot desert air. The spine-tipped leaves are each made up of two to four pairs of small leaflets. The leaves are ephemeral, dropping soon after emerging, leaving the shrub naked most of the time. Flowers occur singly or in small clusters in leaf axils. They are fragrant and showy, with five petals in shades of yellow to salmon pink, each measuring roughly a centimeter long. The fruit is a legume pod up to 4 centimeters long.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Shrub

Size
Size
1.6 - 3.3 ft tall

Flower Color
Flower Color
Yellow, Pink

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Spring, Summer

Wildlife Supported
 


Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun

Moisture
Moisture
Low

Nurseries
Nurseries

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast

Propagation
Propagation?
For propagating by seed: No treatment.

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Sandy or gravelly washes

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 3.1" - 12.6", Summer Precipitation: 0.19" - 2.17", Coldest Month: 39.8" - 61.6", Hottest Month: 66.6" - 88.8", Humidity: 3.22" - 42.83", Elevation: 22" - 6198"

Alternative Names
Common Names: Desert Senna, Desertsenna


Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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