Seymeria pectinata Pursh

Piedmont Black Senna; Comb Black Senna

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Comb Black Senna is a native herbaceous herb in the Broomrape family (Orobanchaceae). It occurs in the southern half of Alabama. Comb Black Senna is a root hemi-parasite on various species of herbs and trees, but not pines. It occurs in pine savannahs, on dry ridges, and in rocky woods. It is an annual from a tap root. Seedlings that are able to form haustorial attachments to the roots of a host plant are able to continue their growth and development. Seedlings that fail to establish a host attachment wither and die. Stems are erect, branched, green or reddish-purple in color, and pubescent. Plants are from 1-2 feet in height. Leaves are opposite, short petiolate, and with pinnatifid to 2-pinnatifid margins with lanceolate segments. Flowers are solitary in the leaf axils. Individual flowers have a short stalk and a calyx composed of 5 narrow sepals united at their base, and 5 yellow corolla lobes. The exterior of the corolla is pubescent and the interior is pubescent between the lobes. The fruit is a capsule. Dead plants turn black due to iriod compounds that become visible as the chlorophyll breaks down.—A. Diamond.

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Native

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