Species
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Senna multiglandulosa (Jacq.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

Buttercup Bush, Glandular Senna, downy senna

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

Senna multiglandulosa, commonly known as glandular senna, downy senna, or buttercup bush is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is native to Mexico, Guatemala, and western parts of South America. It is a shrub with pinnate leaves, usually with six to eight pairs of linear to lance-shaped leaflets, and yellow flowers arranged in groups of ten to twenty, with seven fertile stamens in each flower. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and in some areas of the world has become naturalized.

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

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Jacq.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +7
Wild records
1201 in range· 505 open

At a glance

Warmest month
22°C
Apr, mean day; nights 9 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
780mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Jul 125 mm (CHELSA)
Light
31–45DLI
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 sharp rainy season, June to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 780 mm a year, wettest July at 125 mm, driest December at 11 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 45 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 1.7 °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 Adipera tomentosa (L.f.) Britton & Rose; Cassia albida Ortega; Cassia cana Schrank; Cassia cana Schrank ex Steud.; Cassia lutescens G.Don and 6 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, June to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

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

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (576 mm of 780 mm) falls in June to October. The temperature curve is flat, 3.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern 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 780 mm a year, wettest July at 125 mm, driest December at 11 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

780 mm a year at the habitat, 576 mm of it June to October. Wettest month July at 125 mm, driest December at 11 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 601 mm to 1869 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: 31 to 45 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 45 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 27, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

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 1.7 °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 1.7 °C, the absolute minimum -3.3 °C, about 1 frost night a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 5.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 3.1 °C to 10.0 °C), warmest day 21.9 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.7 °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: 51 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 18 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Apr; mean night from 6 °C in Jan to 10 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 780 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 568 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -3.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.7 °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°frost31.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-3.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 31–45RH 51–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 568 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 °C18 / 15–2119 / 15–2221 / 15–2422 / 15–2622 / 15–2620 / 15–2419 / 15–2219 / 15–2219 / 16–2119 / 16–2118 / 15–2118 / 15–21
Night °C6 / 3–107 / 4–108 / 5–119 / 6–1110 / 7–1310 / 7–1310 / 6–1310 / 6–1310 / 7–129 / 6–118 / 5–106 / 4–10
Rain mm21 / 10–15117 / 10–16817 / 9–21437 / 20–21680 / 45–175124 / 58–266125 / 32–280122 / 33–275124 / 63–27081 / 49–17921 / 11–17611 / 5–158
DLI32 / 29–3537 / 30–3943 / 30–4545 / 28–4743 / 28–4537 / 27–4036 / 29–4036 / 31–4034 / 30–3833 / 30–3632 / 29–3531 / 28–33
RH %55 / 52–6853 / 50–6851 / 47–6853 / 47–6956 / 52–6762 / 58–6863 / 58–6863 / 58–6864 / 59–6963 / 59–6859 / 55–6856 / 53–68

Each figure is the median across the 568 grid cells holding the 1172 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 1414:1619 (19.275, -99.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.7 °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 568 distinct grid cells holding the 1172 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1414:1619 (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 19.50_-98.750, lapse-corrected -395 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2238 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 Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru· introduced: Morocco, Canary Is., Madeira, Ethiopia, Kenya, Cape Provinces, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Northern Provinces, Yemen, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Malaya, New Guinea, New South Wales, Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, New Caledonia, California
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.367, -99.155 · in the densest population, 616 records (51% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1201 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 505 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 12 km away. 271 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 29 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 1201 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Senna multiglandulosaSenna multiglandulosaSenna multiglandulosaSenna multiglandulosaSenna multiglandulosaSenna multiglandulosaSenna multiglandulosaSenna multiglandulosa

Photographs: (c) Murray NZ, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Quentin McDonald, 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 multiglandulosa, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Anthraquinones from Senna multiglandulosa
Berhanu Abegaz, Merhatibeb Bezabeh, Gizachew Alemayehu, H. Duddeck (1994) · Phytochemistry
Bianthraquinones from the seeds of Senna multiglandulosa
Gizachew Alemayehu, Berhanu Abegaz (1996) · Phytochemistry
First Report of Tobacco Etch Virus in Senna multiglandulosa in Mexico
Candelario Ortega-Acosta, Daniel Leobardo Ochoa Martínez, Jorge Gutiérrez, Alfredo Díaz-Lara (2023) · Plant Disease
Antiulcer Effect of Senna multiglandulosa via Increased Secretion of Mucus and Nonprotein Sulfhydryl Groups in an Experimental Murine Model
Miriam Palomino-Pacheco, Juan Pedro Rojas-Armas, Jorge Luis Arroyo-Acevedo, José Manuel Ortiz-Sánchez (2022) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
ENSAYO DE LEGUMINOSAS PARA LA REFORESTACION DE LA 2a SECCION DEL BOSQUE DE CHAPULTEPEC
Maira Oriana Gazca Guzmán, Héctor M. Benavides Meza (2018) · Revista mexicana de ciencias forestales
First Report of Tobacco Etch Virus Infecting Dragon Fruit ( Hylocereus undatus ) in China
Shengming Liu, Rui Gao, Shuqi He, Fangmei Xiao (2026) · Plant Disease
Tree Legumes Forage as a Source of Tannin: Potential Influence on Enteric Methane Mitigation and Rumen Fermentation
Ramón Aragadvay-Yungán, Néstor Acosta-Lozano, Joffre Masaquiza-Aragón, Diego Masaquiza-Moposita (2026) · Agriculture
Tree Legumes of Temperate Climate: Effect on the Mitigation of Enteric Methane and Ruminal Fermentation In Vitro
Ramón Gonzalo Aragadvay-Yungán, Marcos Barros-Rodríguez (2023) · Preprints.org
Primer registro de Acanthoscelides obtectus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) en Senna multiglandulosa (Fabaceae) de la región andina central del Perú
Hernán Baltazar Castañeda, Danilo Baltazar Sedano, Neddy Baltazar Sedano, Daniel Álvarez-Tolentino (2021) · Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

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.