Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_senna_septemtrionalis
Smooth Senna
Senna septemtrionalis
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About Smooth Senna
Smooth Senna (Senna septemtrionalis) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native from Mexico through Central America and parts of South America and associated with disturbed tropical vegetation and forest margins. Repeated seed production supports persistence. Bishop Museum and Smithsonian document naturalized Kauaʻi occurrence; current extent and effects are unassessed.
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.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Senna septemtrionalis
- Common names
- Smooth Senna · Arsenic bush
- Other names
- Senna septemtrionalis · Smooth senna · Arsenic bush · Cassia laevigata
- 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
- Present island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects have not been quantified; no invasive severity is inferred from checklist or forestry status.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Pollinated yellow flowers produce long many-seeded pods. Seeds fall locally or move with water, animals, and disturbed soil; local pollinators, dormancy, and recruitment rates are unknown.
- 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
- Smooth Senna (Senna septemtrionalis) is an introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Its checklist classification is naturalized; current extent is unassessed. Native from Mexico through Central America and parts of South America and associated with disturbed tropical vegetation and forest margins. Repeated seed production supports persistence. Bishop Museum and Smithsonian document naturalized Kauaʻi occurrence; current extent and effects are unassessed.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:234652-2
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:234652-2/general-information
- https://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/publications/pdf/tr75.pdf
- https://editedimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Imadaetal.2025Hawaiianvascularplants.xlsx
- https://doi.org/10.5479/si.32124043