Species
+

Cassia leptophylla Vogel

Gold medallion tree, Golden medallion

Climate known 58 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Cassia leptophylla is a tropical tree species in the genus Cassia, which is indigenous to Brazil. It is named gold medallion tree and has yellow flowers that bloom intermittently throughout the year, spawning seedpods that are rectangular in cross section and rattle festively. It is recognized by its thin green foliage with glossy green pinnate leaflets. The fruit is a long thin seedpod with four sides.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cassia leptophylla”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
Vogel
Native to
Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast +2
Wild records
133 in range· 120 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Jan, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1658mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 217 mm (CHELSA)
Light
20–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, March to September in the northern hemisphere (September to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1658 mm a year, wettest January at 217 mm, driest August at 74 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 6.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, March to September in the northern hemisphere (September to March at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1164 mm of 1658 mm) falls in September to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.3 °C against a yearly mean of 19.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: March to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1658 mm a year, wettest January at 217 mm, driest August at 74 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1658 mm a year at the habitat, 1164 mm of it September to March. Wettest month January at 217 mm, driest August at 74 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1380 mm to 2013 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 6.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 6.2 °C, the absolute minimum -0.9 °C, 1 frost night in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 11.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 8.6 °C to 13.6 °C), warmest day 27.1 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 20 °C in Jun to 27 °C in Jan; mean night from 11 °C in Jul to 19 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1658 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 109 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -0.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost34.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-0.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 20–37RH 62–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 109 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 25–3027 / 25–2926 / 24–2925 / 22–2722 / 19–2520 / 18–2420 / 18–2422 / 19–2623 / 20–2724 / 22–2826 / 23–2827 / 24–29
Night °C19 / 17–2219 / 18–2219 / 17–2117 / 15–1913 / 11–1612 / 9–1411 / 9–1412 / 10–1514 / 12–1716 / 13–1917 / 15–2018 / 16–21
Rain mm217 / 158–304180 / 145–236146 / 111–207110 / 78–175116 / 74–16097 / 45–14097 / 37–14074 / 34–113140 / 75–165152 / 114–202150 / 123–187179 / 134–235
DLI36 / 34–4035 / 33–3832 / 29–3427 / 23–3022 / 19–2520 / 16–2322 / 18–2527 / 23–3029 / 25–3433 / 29–3737 / 34–4037 / 35–42
RH %65 / 62–6966 / 63–7065 / 62–7064 / 61–6864 / 61–6763 / 60–6662 / 58–6662 / 56–6463 / 57–6664 / 59–6863 / 59–6864 / 61–68

Each figure is the median across the 109 grid cells holding the 122 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2259:2672 (-22.975, -46.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 109 distinct grid cells holding the 122 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2259:2672 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -23.00_-46.250, lapse-corrected -62 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 857 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBrazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South· introduced: New Zealand North
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-26.41, -50.133 · in the densest population, 83 records (62% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 133 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 120 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 18 km away. 23 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 11 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 133 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cassia leptophyllaCassia leptophyllaCassia leptophyllaCassia leptophyllaCassia leptophyllaCassia leptophyllaCassia leptophyllaCassia leptophylla

Photographs: (c) Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4); (c) Fabiele S. Beltramin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Luísa Moura, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Cassia leptophylla, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Bioactive and other piperidine alkaloids from Cassia leptophylla
Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani, A. A. Leslie Gunatilaka, David G. I. Kingston (1995) · Tetrahedron
Breaking physical dormancy of Cassia leptophylla and Senna macranthera (Fabaceae: Caesalpinioideae) seeds: water absorption and alternating temperatures
Alexandre Souza de Paula, Carolina Maria Luzia Delgado, Maria Terezinha Silveira Paulilo, Marisa Santos (2012) · Seed Science Research
Antinociceptive Profile of (-)-Spectaline: A Piperidine Alkaloid fromCassia leptophylla
Magna Suzana Alexandre‐Moreira, Claudio Viegas Jr., Ana Luísa P. Miranda, Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani (2003) · Planta Medica
Números cromossômicos e implicações sistemáticas em espécies da subfamília Caesalpinioideae (Leguminosae) ocorrentes na região sul do Brasil
Elaine Biondo, Sílvia Teresinha Sfoggia Miotto, María Teresa Schifino-Wittmann (2005) · Revista Brasileira de Botânica
Antagonistic properties of some microorganisms isolated from Brazilian tropical savannah plants against Staphylococcus coagulase-positive strain
Regiane Priscila Ratti, N.F.G. Serrano, Carlos O. Hokka, Cristina Paiva de Sousa (2008) · ˜The œJournal of venomous animals and toxins including tropical diseases
Search for antifungal and anticancer compounds from native plant species of Cerrado and Atlantic Forest.
Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani, Maria Cláudia Marx Young, Maysa Furlan, Alberto José Cavalheiro (1999) · PubMed
Inventário de macroliquens epífitos sobre árvores utilizadas na arborização urbana em Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil: Subsídio para biomonitoramento urbano
Sionara Eliasaro, Patrícia Wolf Veiga, Cristine Gobel Donha, Lucas Alencar da Silva Nogueira (2011) · Biotemas
Efeitos da mudança de recipiente em viveiro na qualidade de mudas de Cassia leptophylla Vogel, Eugenia involucrata DC. e de Cedrela fissilis Vell
Felipe Silveira Vargas, Rodrigo José Rebechi, Lauri Amândio Schorn, Tatiele Anete Bergamo Fenilli (2011) · Revista Acadêmica Ciência Animal
Agrupamento em amostras de sementes de espécies florestais nativas do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul - Brasil
Fabiano de Oliveira Fortes, Alessandro Dal’Cól Lúcio, Sidinei José Lopes, Ricardo Howes Carpes (2008) · Ciência Rural
A Convenient Route to Alkaloid Lipids: Application for the Synthesis of a Leptophylline A Analogue
Serkos A. Haroutounian, Sofia D. Koulocheri, Emmanuel N. Pitsinos (2002) · Synthesis
MÉTODOS PARA A SUPERAÇÃO DA DORMÊNCIA EM SEMENTES DE Cassia leptophylla Vogel
Matheus Santin Padilha, Lúcia Salengue Sobral, Lucilene de Abreu (2018) · Revista Ciência Agrícola

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Cassia 4 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 47 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.