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Senna didymobotrya
Also called Peanut butter cassia, Popcorn senna, Candelabra Tree, African Wild Cassia, Chemagro, Popcorn Cassia
African senna is a fast-growing, aromatic shrub or small tree in the legume family, widely grown as an ornamental and cover crop. It thrives in warm, sunny spots and tolerates a range of soils once established.
Senna didymobotrya is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names African senna, popcorn senna, candelabra tree, and peanut butter cassia. It is native to Africa, where it can be found across the continent in several types of habitats.
It has been introduced to many other parts of the world for use as an ornamental plant, a cover crop, and a leguminous green manure. In some places it is now naturalized in the wild, for example, in parts of Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, and the United States in California, Florida, and Hawaii.
In Kenya, some cultures, particularly Kalenjins, use the plant to prepare a special type of sour milk (mursik) which is used mainly during festivities. A sizeable tree is cut and its branches pruned. The bark is mostly removed, then dried. Once the bark is dry, and the specially made calabash gourd, or Sotet, has been cleaned and dried, the senna bark is put in a fire, and removed when charred. The process emits fragrant smoke. The charred bark is used to coat the inside of the gourd, which is subsequently used for the storage of fermented or fresh milk.
Emperor's candlesticks · Alexandrian senna · Silver senna · Matara Tea · Christmasbush · Argentine senna · American senna · Port Royal senna · False sicklepod · Java-bean · Senna odorata · Valamuerto
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Senna didymobotrya by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
