Species
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Senna siamea (Lam.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

Iron Wood, Pheasantwood, Siamese Cassia, Siamese senna

Climate known 65 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 siamea, also known as Siamese cassia, kassod tree, cassod tree and cassia tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown.

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

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Lam.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
Native to
Sri Lanka, Laos, Myanmar +2
Wild records
20 in range· 9 open

At a glance

Warmest month
33°C
Apr, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1445mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Jul 250 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–39DLI
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, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1445 mm a year, wettest July at 250 mm, driest December at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 10.9 °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 arborea Macfad.; Cassia florida Vahl; Cassia gigantea Bertero; Cassia gigantea Bertero ex DC.; Cassia siamea Lam. and 8 more.

Cultivation

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

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 (1086 mm of 1445 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.7 °C against a yearly mean of 26.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

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 1445 mm a year, wettest July at 250 mm, driest December at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1445 mm a year at the habitat, 1086 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 250 mm, driest December at 9 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1203 mm to 2418 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern 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: 28 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 39 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 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

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 10.9 °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 10.9 °C, the absolute minimum 4.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 17.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 8.3 °C to 21.7 °C), warmest day 33.4 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10.9 °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: 54 to 67% 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 Dec to 33 °C in Apr; mean night from 17 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1445 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 20 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 4.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 41.4 °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°50°41.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)4.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 28–39RH 54–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 20 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 / 21–3031 / 23–3232 / 27–3433 / 28–3532 / 29–3331 / 28–3330 / 27–3230 / 28–3230 / 27–3129 / 26–3029 / 23–3028 / 22–30
Night °C17 / 8–2219 / 10–2322 / 13–2525 / 17–2625 / 19–2625 / 21–2625 / 21–2624 / 21–2524 / 20–2522 / 18–2420 / 13–2317 / 10–22
Rain mm11 / 2–2219 / 4–3541 / 17–7485 / 53–155191 / 138–279187 / 140–365250 / 127–436227 / 159–445231 / 166–368139 / 101–24255 / 16–849 / 4–24
DLI32 / 23–3435 / 27–3838 / 31–4139 / 31–4134 / 31–3631 / 27–3330 / 24–3228 / 25–3129 / 27–3028 / 26–3029 / 24–3130 / 23–32
RH %56 / 54–5954 / 52–6154 / 51–6257 / 53–6462 / 60–6666 / 61–6967 / 61–7067 / 63–6966 / 64–6965 / 62–6860 / 57–6657 / 54–61

Each figure is the median across the 20 grid cells holding the 20 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 1466:5647 (16.675, 102.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 4.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 10.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.4 °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 20 distinct grid cells holding the 20 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1466:5647 (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 16.50_102.500, lapse-corrected -19 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 204 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.
NativeSri Lanka, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam· introduced: Benin, Burkina, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Nicobar Is., Borneo, Jawa, Malaya, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, New Guinea, Queensland, Fiji, Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Hawaii, El Salvador, Panama, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker16.659, 102.367 · in the densest population, 14 records (70% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 20 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 9 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 830 km away. 629 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 20 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Senna siameaSenna siameaSenna siameaSenna siameaSenna siameaSenna siameaSenna siameaSenna siamea

Photographs: (c) Augustin Soulard, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Kiwi Shen, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) vaazhaikumar, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) John Lyakurwa, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Raúl A. Ruiz M., some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Soil Heavy Metal(loid) Pollution and Phytoremediation Potential of Native Plants on a Former Gold Mine in Ghana
Joshua Petelka, John Abraham, Anke Bockreis, Justus P. Deikumah (2019) · Water Air & Soil Pollution
Patterns of sugar feeding and host plant preferences in adult males of An. gambiae (Diptera: Culicidae)
Louis‐Clément Gouagna, Rodrigue S. Poueme, Kounbobr Roch Dabiré, Jean‐Bosco Ouédraogo (2010) · Journal of Vector Ecology
Regeneration of Earthworm Populations in a Degraded Soil by Natural and Planted Fallows under Humid Tropical Conditions
Guangming Tian, J.A. Olimah, G. O. Adeoye, Β. T. Kang (2000) · Soil Science Society of America Journal
Contour Hedgerows and Grass Strips in Erosion and Runoff Control on Sloping Land in Semi-Arid Kenya
Josiah M. Kinama, C.J. Stigter, C.K. Ong, J.K. Ng’ang’a (2006) · Arid Land Research and Management
Organic Carbon Stock and their Dynamics in Rehabilitation Ecosystem Areas of Post Open Coal Mining at Tropical Region
Cahyono Agus, Pamungkas Buana Putra, Eny Faridah, Dewi Wulandari (2016) · Procedia Engineering
Determination of Chemical Composition of Senna-siamea (Cassia Leaves)
Y.R. Alli Smith (2009) · Pakistan Journal of Nutrition
Equilibrium, kinetics and thermodynamics of hexavalent chromium biosorption on pristine and zinc chloride activated Senna siamea seed pods
Abhishek Ajmani, Tasrin Shahnaz, S. Lakshmi Narayanan, Selvaraju Narayanasamy (2019) · Chemistry and Ecology
ANTI-ULCER ACTIVITY OF LEGUMINOSAE PLANTS
Noemi D. Paguigan, Darryl Hannah B. CASTILLO, Christine L. Chichioco-Hernandez (2014) · Arquivos de Gastroenterologia
Image Classification of Forage Plants in Fabaceae Family Using Scale Invariant Feature Transform Method
Thidarat Pinthong, Worawut Yimyam, Narumol Chumuang, Mahasak Ketcham (2020)
Use of indigenous knowledge in the management of field and storage pests around Lake Victoria basin in Tanzania
Matabola J. Mihale, A. L. Deng, Haji O. Selemani, M. Mugisha-Kamatenesi (2009) · African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

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 107 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.