Velvet-leafed senna (Senna lindheimeriana) is rather new to cultivation, though some gardners have grown it for a while. As the common name implies, the foliage is soft and velvety on this 1-4 feet high shrub (some plants have reached up to a height of 6 feet in favorable conditions or with the support of other shrubs or trees). Clusters of yellow flowers appear throughout the Summer.
Native to SE Arizona, New Mexico, Texas in the US, and Chihuahua and Tampaulinas, Mexico. In some localities, leaves have been used to help heal skin disease. Birds are attracted to the seeds for food which is why it is used in bird gardens. This plant is said to improve soil by fixing nitrogen.
This plant is very hardy. At 20 degrees F. it will freeze to the ground, but will recover rapidly in the spring. Tough little plant, full sun or partial shade is acceptable. It is from elevations of 4,500-5,500 feet so do not let velvet-leafed senna dry out too much. Many sources say that it prefers well-drained, thin soils over limestone and limestone outcrops but I have not found velvet-leaved senna to be too picky in the ground. Here in Tucson the soil is slightly alkaline though.
If you are into butterflies, velvet-leafed senna is a good one which acts as a food plant for the larvae of the cloudless sulfer (Phoebis sennae) and also for the sleepy orange (Eucrema nicippe). My plants had so many larvae on them this year the plants were weighed down to the ground in some places.
Another species the western senna (Senna occidentalis) is an herbacious perennial (sometimes functioning as an annual)which is even newer to cultivation. It is native to Tropical Deciduous Forest in Sonora where I have seen it in habitat though it is reputed to be common in both new and old world tropics. I first noticed this plant at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona in the nursery in the back. John Weens who manages the propogation of plants there told me about the plant and let me snag some seeds. I began to see it on the field too, and knew that the plant seemed familiar to me. I had been seeing it on roadsides in Sonora near Tropical Deciduous Forest and Thornscrub.
The seeds germinated with no problem and before I know it I had tons of plants. The plants grow fast and reseed themselves. They die to the ground in the late fall and in spring they re-emerge unless they were small seedlings at fall time. They almost have a woody base to them and after some years I believe they may just produce somewhat of a woody base. They seem to live for sometime in cultivation though, and even if not, they produce so much seed there is not problem with having some for next year.
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