Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_cassia_sieberiana
African Laburnum
Cassia sieberiana
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About African Laburnum
African Laburnum (Cassia sieberiana) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from western tropical Africa to northwestern Uganda, chiefly in seasonally dry woodland, wooded grassland, and savanna. A 1980 forestry ledger documents a 1943 Kauaʻi planting; survival, spread, and ecological effects are unconfirmed.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 6 plants under Cassia sieberiana across 1 entries dated 1943. These are recorded planting quantities, not counts of surviving trees, and they do not by themselves establish current persistence, naturalization, or ecological impact. Source: Kauaʻi Reforestation Plantings 1918–1959 working register (user-supplied; reconciled 6 October 2026).
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Cassia sieberiana
- Common names
- African Laburnum
- Other names
- Cassia sieberiana · African laburnum
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current survival on Kauaʻi, number of trees, occupied habitat, flowering or fruiting, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects are all unconfirmed; no naturalization or invasive severity is inferred from the historical planting record.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Large yellow flowers require animal pollination and mature into long, many-seeded pods. Kauaʻi pollinators, fruiting, seed dormancy, dispersal, and recruitment have not been documented.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Shrub or small tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- African Laburnum (Cassia sieberiana) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from western tropical Africa to northwestern Uganda, chiefly in seasonally dry woodland, wooded grassland, and savanna. A 1980 forestry ledger documents a 1943 Kauaʻi planting; survival, spread, and ecological effects are unconfirmed.