Senna septemtrionalis
Common names
Buttercup bush, Brazilian buttercup
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
Yellow
Detailed description
Shrub to 2m high, unarmed; twigs glabrous or sparsely hairy, finely ribbed, rounded. Leaves 1-paripinnate, usu. glabrous or sparsely ciliate, sparsely hairy when young, petiolate; leaflets ovate-elliptic, usu. acuminate, sometimes acute, entire, subsessile or shortly petiolulate, 45~90mm long, in 3~4 opposite pairs; protruding glands mostly present between each pair of leaflets; stipules deciduous. Infl. axillary, racemose, 6~12-flowered, < leaves; bracts and bracteoles ovate-triangular, caducous, 3~6mm long. Calyx teeth very unequal, obtuse. Corolla golden yellow, approx. 2cm long; stamens 7; staminodes 3. Pod tardily dehiscent, glabrous, straight, terete, many-seeded, 5~10cm long; seeds smooth, brown, 4~6mm long. (-Webb et. al., 1988)
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Fabaceae
Ecology
Flowering
December - June
Fruiting
December - August
Year naturalised
1965
Origin
Mexico, C America
Other information
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
SENSEP