Senna alata
species of plant
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.
Geographic range
Senna alata is native to most of the Neotropics (from Mexico and the West Indies to Paraguay), and can be found in diverse habitats. In the tropics, it grows up to an altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). It is brought over to Malesia of the Old World by the Spanish galleon trade in Manila 16th century; however they have been adapted in communities of the southeast Asian, North Australian and African ranges with greater ornamental and medicinal values.
It is so naturalized in the Malay Peninsula (known in Malay: gelenggang) that its blooming from mid November-December there has become incorporated in the Kedahan traditional rice planting cycle (piama) as a marker of its beginning dry season.
Description
The shrub stands 3–4 metres (9.8–13.1 ft) tall, with leaves 50–80 centimetres (20–31 in) long.
The leaves close in the dark.
The inflorescence looks like a yellow candle.
The public source identifies “Senna alata” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Senna, alata and species.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q41504. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Senna alata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.