Maryland Senna
Senna marilandica
Found in dry to moist forests, especially on greenstone and diabase barrens and rocky woodlands, thickets, woodland borders, sometimes somewhat weedy. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
68
Strong
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 100%
- Height
- 4–6 feet
- Spread
- 3–6 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
Space about 4.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 5 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- July to August
- Fruiting season
- August to November
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Recorded in 17 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement.
1 of 2
Habitats
Dry forests and woodlands; moist forests; glades, barrens and outcrops on mafic or serpentine rock; forests and woodlands; forest edges and thickets.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
31CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Cassia
- Phoebis sennaeCloudless Sulphur
- Abaeis nicippeSleepy Orange, Sleepy Yellow, Erratic Orange
- Amyelois transitellaNavel Orangeworm
- Anabasis ochrodesmaCassia Webworm Moth
- Aphrissa statiraStatira Sulphur, Migrant Sulphur; Florida Statira Sulphur
- Ascalapha odorataBlack Witch
- Automeris ioIo Moth
- Choristoneura obsoletanaObsolete Leafroller
- Colias eurythemeOrange Sulphur, Alfalfa Butterfly
- Epargyreus clarusSilver-Spotted Skipper
Show all 31
- Erechthias minusculaCaribbean Scavenger Moth
- Eumarozia malachitanaSculptured Moth
- Eurema dairaBarred Yellow, Barred Sulphur
- Fundella pellucensCaribbean Podborer
- Hemiargus ceraunusCeraunus Blue, Antillean Blue
- Leptotes cassiusCassius Blue, Tropical Striped Blue
- Lesmone detrahensDetracted Owlet
- Phoebis agaritheLarge Orange Sulphur, Orange Giant Sulphur
- Phoebis phileaOrange-Barred Sulphur
- Platynota rostranaOmnivorous Platynota
- Pleuroprucha insulsariaCommon Tan Wave
- Psamatodes abydataDot-Lined Angle
- Pyrisitia lisaLittle Yellow, Little Sulphur, Lisa Yellow
- Pyrisitia niseMimosa Yellow, Blacktip Sulphur, Jamaican Sulphur
- Selenisa sueroidesTailpipes, Pale-Edged Selenisa Moth
- Thysania zenobiaOwl Moth
- Trichordestra legitimaStriped Garden Caterpillar Moth
- Uresiphita reversalisGenista Caterpillar, Genista Cbroom Moth
- Zale lunataLunate Zale
- Anypsipyla univitella
- Lesmone formularis
7BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Senna
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Cassia
- Pipilo maculatusSpotted Towhee
- Zonotrichia leucophrysWhite-crowned Sparrow
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
2AntsRecorded seed interactions
- Formica schaufussi
- Lasius niger
Beetles 1
- Coccinella 9-notata
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Growing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 4b–10b
- Soil pH
- Neutral
- Flower color
- Yellow or white
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth habit
- Single stem
- Foliage color
- Green
- Fruit begins
- August
- Fruit ends
- November
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; USDA PLANTS, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Foliage color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit begins · “August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; NC Extension Plant Toolbox, USDA PLANTS differ) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “November” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; NC Extension Plant Toolbox, USDA PLANTS differ) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Growth habit · “Single stem” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Rapid” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Hardiness · “Zones 4b–10b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “4–6 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; USDA PLANTS, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Virginia DCR Piedmont, Virginia DCR Coastal Plain, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Soil · “Occasionally wet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Virginia DCR Piedmont, Virginia DCR Coastal Plain, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Soil pH · “Neutral” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “3–6 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Cassia marilandica
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
In your garden
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Choose a county to begin.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications