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Cassia fistula

Golden Shower

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Leaves and flowers	78KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Golden Shower, Golden Shower Tree, Indian Laburnum, Pudding-pipe Tree; German Indischer Goldregen; French Cassier

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE se.Asia - India

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental flowers

KEY FEATURES: Near-evergreen tree to 10m. LEAVES alternate, compound with 3-8 pairs of leaflets, to 60x30cm; LEAFLETS oval, to 17x9cm, stalks short; stipules very small, linear. FLOWERS in large hanging clusters to 80cm long; each 6cmØ, petals 5, yellow, 25x15mm; style long, curved, green; stamens 10 (stalks are 3 long, curved, central swelling, pale green; 4 short, pale green; 3 short, pale green, with undeveloped pollen sacs). FRUIT narrow cylindrical pod, to 60cm; seeds embedded in sticky pulp.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
	+	+				-		-

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Cassia fistula Linnaeus
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ROSIDAE; Fabales (Legumes); CAESALPINIACEAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Atiu: fieldsight, Atiu Motel only, 1 tree, 11/2000, ID GMcC.

References:
p.422 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.215 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.551 Tropica
p.3/102 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD03b

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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