Senna covesii A. Gray
Coues’ Cassia, Desert senna (syn. Cassia covesii)
Family: Fabaceae
Habit: Subshrub, unarmed, leafy and densely white-hairy; stems 3 to 6 dm.
Distribution: Dry, sandy desert washes and slopes. Rare in California. Found in the Sonora Desert, Arizona, Nevada, and Baja California.
Seed unit: Free seed.
Seed: Several in flat pods. Seeds brown, 2 to 4mm., shiny, flattened, irregularly shaped.
Embryo: Foliar embryo, bent or folded, with hard seed coat.
Purity instructions: Pure seed definition:
AOSA: PSU #2 – Seed with at least a portion of the seed coat attached. Broken seed larger than one-half the original size with at least a portion of the seed coat attached.
Lab notes: Samples of this species often contain large percentages of hard seeds; viability of hard seeds can be determined by TZ, or hard seeds can be clipped and chilled with GA3.
Average pure seed units per gram: 44 seeds per gram (based on AOSA pure seed units only from 2 samples received for testing from 1998 to 1999).
Range of percent pure seed: 99%
Range of percent inert: 1%
Description of inert: Plant material, broken seed.
Planting instructions: 400 seeds, T, 21 days @ 20°C; for fresh and dormant seed, prechill recommended.
References: (link to main reference page)
Hickman, J.C., Ed. 1993. p. 644.
Ransom Seed Laboratory
