CASSIA. Senna. Widespread. This is an enormous group of trees and shrubs, heavily concentrated in the tropics and subtropics of several continents. Therein lies the problem for central and northern Californians: In spite of their often considerable beauty, most of them are simply too tender for cultivation outdoors here. Fortunately, there are some notable exceptions. The cassias have been transferred in and out of the pea family at various times by taxonomists; they are currently “in”. To make matters worse, many have been assigned by some taxonomists to another genus, Senna. I am not certain of the current consensus on this question. Most species, whatever their form, have the familiar, divided pea-like or acacia-like leaves and typical, flattened to cylindrical legume-style seed pods. However, in place of the wings and banner of the peas, their flowers have five, often slightly unequal petals in a wheel-like arrangement and conspicuous, frequently showy stamens. Yellow and gold are the predominant shades, but some species (not the following) have white to deep pink flowers. Apart from questions of hardiness, most cassias are easy to grow. They tolerate hard pruning, which can be useful in controlling the more rampant growers. They thrive in sun or light shade and many soils, with moderate watering (though some are quite drought tolerant).

bicapsularis. Central and South America. We have grown various forms of this decorative shrub, beginning in Wintergreen days. However, none have been as beautiful as two recent selections by Patrick Worley, one received from Jon Dixon, the other from the Master himself. They are bushy in habit, forming a broad dome 5-8' high, with sturdy multiple trunks. The leaves are divided feather-like into several bright green oval leaflets, each a little over 1" long. They begin to flower in mid- to late summer and continue into late fall, carrying masses of cheery five petalled flowers, over 1" in diameter. The first, thus far unnamed selection has golden yellow flowers. ‘Worley’s Butter Creme’ combines soft yellow and creamy white. Sun, most soils, moderate watering. The leaves are damaged at 25^o; however, the plants recover quickly from even harder freezes.