Synonyms:

• Basionym: Cassia alata L.

Common names:

• candlebush  (Source: F Ceylon) - English
• candlestick senna  (Source: Baileya) - English
• Christmas-candle  (Source: Dict Gard) - English
• empress-candleplant  (Source: Dict Gard) - English
• ringworm senna  (Source: Pl Book) - English
• ringwormbush  (Source: World Econ Pl) - English
• ringwormshrub  (Source: Mem NYBG) - English
• seven-golden-candles  (Source: Aust Pl Common Names) - English
• seven-golden-candlesticks  (Source: Dict Gard) - English
• bois dartre  (Source: Dict Rehm) - French
• dartres  (Source: Dict Rehm) - French
• café-beirão  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• fedegoso-gigante  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• fedegoso-grande  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• mangerioba-do-Pará  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• mangerioba-grande  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• mata-pasto  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• bajagua  (Source: Dict Rehm) - Spanish
• mocoté  (Source: Dict Rehm) - Spanish

Economic Importance:

• Environmental: erosion control (fide F Viti; P. Hanelt, pers. comm.; Invasive Pl Spec)
• Environmental: ornamental (fide Leg WorldEc)
• Medicines: folklore (fide F Viti; Baileya 23:214. 1996; Pl Res SEAs 12(1):445. 1999; CRC MedHerbs ed2; Herbs Commerce ed2)
• Weed: (fide Noxweed Aust; Invasive Pl Spec)

Distributional Range:

Native

Southern America

• NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA: French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela
• BRAZIL: Brazil
• WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA: Colombia


Cultivated (also cult.)

Naturalized

Africa

• NORTHEAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Chad, Sudan
• EAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
• WEST-CENTRAL TROPICAL AFRICA: Burundi, Cameroon, Gabon, Zaire
• WEST TROPICAL AFRICA: Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone
• SOUTH TROPICAL AFRICA: Malawi
• WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN: Comoros, Madagascar, Mayotte

Asia-Tropical

• INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
• PAPUASIA: Papua New Guinea
• INDO-CHINA: Cambodia, India, [Andaman and Nicobar] Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam
• MALESIA: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines

Australasia

• AUSTRALIA: Australia

Northern America

• SOUTHEASTERN U.S.A.: United States [Florida]
• Mexico

Pacific

• NORTH-CENTRAL PACIFIC: United States [Hawaii]
• NORTHWESTERN PACIFIC: Guam, Micronesia, Palau
• SOUTH-CENTRAL PACIFIC: Cook Islands, French Polynesia
• SOUTHWESTERN PACIFIC: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga

Southern America

• CARIBBEAN: West Indies

References:

1. Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. 1980- (F Ceylon)
2. Du Puy, D. J. et al. The Leguminosae of Madagascar (Leg Madag)
3. Duke, J. A. Handbook of legumes of world economic importance. 1981 (Leg WorldEc)
4. Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. (pers. comm.)
5. Huxley, A., ed. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening. 1992 (Dict Gard)
6. Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER): plant threats to Pacific ecosystems (on-line resource). (Pacif I Ecosyst Risk)
7. Integrated Botanical Information System (IBIS) Australian plant common name database (on-line resource). (Aust Pl Common Names)
8. Irwin, H. S. & R. C. Barneby 1982. The American Cassiinae: a synoptical revision of Leguminosae tribe Cassieae subtribe Cassiinae in the New World Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35:460.
9. Kumar, S & P. V. Sane Legumes of South Asia: a checklist. 2003 (Leg SAsia)
10. Lock, J. M. Legumes of Africa: a checklist. 1989 (Leg Africa)
11. Lock, J. M. & C. S. Ford Legumes of Malesia: a checklist. 2004 (Leg Malesia)
12. Lock, J. M. & J. Heald Legumes of Indochina: a checklist. 1994 (Leg Indochina)
13. Mabberley, D. J. The plant-book: a portable dictionary of the vascular plants, ed. 2. 1997 (Pl Book)
14. McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. 2000 (Herbs Commerce ed2)
15. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994 (Dict Rehm)
16. Smith, A. C. Flora vitiensis nova. 1979-1991 (F Viti)
17. Staples, G. W. & D. R. Herbst 1996. Nomenclatural changes affecting cultivated plants. I. (Baileya) 23:174.
18. Weber, E. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds. 2003 (Invasive Pl Spec)
19. Wunderlin, R. & B. Hansen Atlas of Florida vascular plants (on-line resource). (Atlas Florida)

Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2026. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN-Taxonomy).
National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: http://germoplasma.iniaf.gob.bo/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=100063. Accessed 7 junio 2026.