Species
+

Senna alata (L.) Roxb.

Andra Be Ila, Andra be lahi be, Balor di Jonkuman, Brigida, Buniteza di Jonkuman

Climate known 61 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

Senna alata is an important Neotropical medicinal tree, as well as an ornamental flowering plant in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It also known as emperor's candlesticks, candle bush, candelabra bush, Christmas candles, empress candle plant, ringworm shrub, Roman candle, or candletree. A remarkable species of Senna, it was sometimes separated in its own genus, Herpetica.

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

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(L.) Roxb.
Native to
Mexico Southwest, Belize, Costa Rica +25
Wild records
596 in range· 393 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Mar, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1568mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Dec 165 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–35DLI
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: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (October to March and June to July at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 1568 mm a year, wettest December at 165 mm, driest April at 109 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 15.3 °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.

Also known as Cassia alata L.; Cassia alata subsp. perennis Pamp.; Cassia alata subsp. rumphiana DC.; Cassia alata var. perennis Pamp.; Cassia alata var. rumphiana DC. and 7 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (October to March and June to July at the habitat (not shifted)).

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

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1117 mm of 1568 mm) takes 8 months, October to March and June to July. Mean temperature moves 1.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

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 1568 mm a year, wettest December at 165 mm, driest April at 109 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1568 mm a year at the habitat, 1117 mm of it October to March and June to July. Wettest month December at 165 mm, driest April at 109 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 963 mm to 3314 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: 29 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 35 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

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 15.3 °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 15.3 °C, the absolute minimum 7.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.2 °C in July (across the envelope cells 13.4 °C to 25.2 °C), warmest day 28.8 °C in March (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.3 °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: 63 to 64% 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 28 °C in Jun to 29 °C in Mar; mean night from 21 °C in Jul to 23 °C in Oct. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1568 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 514 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 7.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 37.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°37.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)7.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 29–35RH 63–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 514 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 °C28 / 25–3229 / 25–3129 / 26–3129 / 26–3128 / 24–3128 / 23–3128 / 23–3129 / 24–3229 / 26–3228 / 26–3328 / 26–3228 / 25–31
Night °C22 / 18–2422 / 18–2422 / 18–2422 / 18–2422 / 16–2522 / 14–2521 / 13–2522 / 15–2522 / 16–2523 / 18–2522 / 18–2522 / 18–24
Rain mm143 / 27–315125 / 14–290134 / 8–312109 / 17–334116 / 23–358126 / 16–361121 / 10–370111 / 13–343115 / 25–344140 / 37–357163 / 18–307165 / 19–302
DLI33 / 26–3935 / 29–3935 / 29–4233 / 27–4530 / 23–4329 / 22–4231 / 23–4133 / 26–4034 / 28–4035 / 28–4033 / 25–4032 / 25–40
RH %64 / 57–7063 / 57–6963 / 57–7063 / 58–7064 / 57–7164 / 56–7164 / 54–7163 / 51–7163 / 54–7164 / 56–7164 / 58–7164 / 58–70

Each figure is the median across the 514 grid cells holding the 576 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 2011:2328 (-10.575, -63.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 7.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.9 °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 514 distinct grid cells holding the 576 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2011:2328 (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 -10.50_-63.750, lapse-corrected +66 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 307 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.
NativeMexico Southwest, Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Paraguay· introduced: Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, Oman, China South-Central, China Southeast, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Malaya, Philippines, Sumatera, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, Oklahoma, California, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, El Salvador, Galápagos, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-15.729, -47.858 · in the densest population, 88 records (15% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 596 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 393 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 17 km away. 1144 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 20 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 4° block of the 596 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Senna alataSenna alataSenna alataSenna alataSenna alataSenna alataSenna alataSenna alata

Photographs: (c) elawrey, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) José Javier Barrios Flores, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Ricard Busquets Reverte, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist 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 Senna alata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Is it safe to consume traditional medicinal plants during pregnancy?
Nirit Bernstein, Muhammad Akram, Zohara Yaniv‐Bachrach, Muhammad Daniyal (2020) · Phytotherapy Research
Ethnobotanical Description and Biological Activities of Senna alata
Oluwole Solomon Oladeji, Funmilayo Enitan Adelowo, Abimbola Peter Oluyori, Deborah Temitope Bankole (2020) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Fungal Planet description sheets: 1478–1549
P.W. Crous, E R Osieck, Roger G. Shivas, Yu Pei Tan (2023) · Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
Thai plants with high antioxidant levels, free radical scavenging activity, anti-tyrosinase and anti-collagenase activity
Moragot Chatatikun, Anchalee Chiabchalard (2017) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Senna alata
Thierry Hennebelle, Bernard Weniger, Henry Joseph, Sevser Şahpaz (2009) · Fitoterapia
The antibacterial activity of selected plants towards resistant bacteria isolated from clinical specimens
Pratiwi Wikaningtyas, Elin Yulinah Sukandar (2015) · Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
Antidiabetic components ofCassia alataleaves: Identification through α-glucosidase inhibition studies
George Varghese, Lekshmi V. Bose, Solomon Habtemariam (2012) · Pharmaceutical Biology
Evaluation of acute and subacute toxicities of aqueous ethanolic extract of leaves of Senna alata (L.) Roxb (Ceasalpiniaceae)
CA Pieme, V.N. Penlap, B. Nkegoum, Pcl Taziebou (2006) · AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants in Trinidad
Y Clément, Yasmin S. Baksh-Comeau, C. E. Seaforth (2015) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Intrafloral differentiation of stamens in heterantherous flowers
Zhonglai Luo, Lei Gu, Dianxiang Zhang (2009) · Journal of Systematics and Evolution
Eco-friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Senna alata bark extract and its antimicrobial mechanism through enhancement of bacterial membrane degradation
Julalak C. Ontong, Supakit Paosen, Shiv Shankar, Supayang Piyawan Voravuthikunchai (2019) · Journal of Microbiological Methods

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 Senna 9 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (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 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried 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 2026-09-19; 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 192 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.