Chamaecrista pumila - Dwarf Cassia

❏ Binomial Name : Chamaecrista pumila (Lam.)K.Larsen

❏ Synonym : Cassia prostrata,Cassia pumila,Senna prostrata

❏ Family : Leguminosae

❏ Common Name : Dwarf Cassia

❏ Tamil Name : 

❏ Hindi Name : Sarmal

❏ IUCN status: Not Evaluated

Chamaecrista pumila Botanical Description

Prostrate or erect herbs or undershrubs, 10-60 cm high, pubescent with curved hairs. Leaves pinnate, alternate; rachis (including petiole) 3-10 cm long, grooved, pubescent with spreading hairs; leaflets 3-30 pairs, sessile, 5-18 x 1.5-3.5 mm, linear-oblong, aristate at the apex, oblique at the base, ciliolate, chartaceous, glabrescent or scattered hairy on the nerves beneath; mid-nerve excentric, ca 1 mm away from the anticous margin; petioles 2-5 mm long, grooved; gland solitary, stipitate, peltate, above the middle on the petiole or just below the lowest pair of leaflets, but not touching them, stipe 0.5-2 mm long; sometimes identical but smaller deciduous glands present between all or few pairs of leaflets; stipules 5-8 mm long, lanceolate, membranous, aristate-acuminate, ciliate, glabrescent, strongly veined, persistent. Peduncles short, axillary or supra-axillary, 1 to 3-flowered; pedicels 3-7 mm long, pubescent; bracts lanceolate, acuminate; bracteoles linear, long acute, persistent. Sepals 5-7 mm long, lanceolate, acute or acuminate, pubescent outside. Petals yellow, oblong to orbicular, unequal, about as long as calyx, nearly clawed. Stamens 5, all equal and fertile; filaments upto 1.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers dehiscing by apical pores extending into lateral slits. Ovary silky hairy; stigma peltate, ciliate or eciliate. Pods 3-4.5 x 0.3-0.4 cm, strap-shaped, straight or slightly falcate, sparsely hairy, dehiscing along the sutures, 8 to 14 seeded; valves coiling on dehiscence; seeds 3-4 x 2-2.5 mm, rhomboid or obovate-oblong, compressed, black or brown, without areole; albumen copious; embryo oblique. Fl. &Fr.: November-December.

Chamaecrista pumila Medicinal uses

❀ Paste of the nuts is applied on forehead to cure headache.

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