Cassia abbreviata - Spiny Combretum Seeds - Indigenous Tree - Shrub

Cassia abbreviata Seeds

Long-Tail Cassia

The long-tail cassia is ideal for small to medium-sized gardens where it will attract attention with both its beautiful deep yellow, sweetly scented flowers and its long seed pods. Cassia abbreviata commonly known as Long-Tail Cassia is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree up to 7 m high. Its slender to medium-broad trunk is covered in bark that ranges from dark brown to grey and black. In old trees the bark is often deeply furrowed. The leaves, which appear lightly drooping, are compound (one leaf made up of smaller leaflets), bright green when young and fade to a darker green when older. The flowers, which can be seen from August to October, are deep yellow and appear clustered at the ends of the branches. They are sweetly scented. The pods appear soon after the flowers, are up to 80 mm long and cylindrical in shape. They ripen from a light green to a dark brown. The pods may take up to a year to ripen. This tree is popular with both animals and humans. Various birds from our indigenous parrot species to the Go-away Bird eat the fruit pulp and seeds. Animals such as nyala, giraffe and kudu browse the leaves. Elephants are also said to eat the leaves and the young branches of the tree. Various parts of the tree are used in traditional medicine for treating everything from Blackwater fever, headache, toothache and stomach ache to using it as a natural abortion agent. An infusion is made from the root and drunk as an aphrodisiac. The seed is known to be used as a tonic. The root is used for the treatment of toothache. And for the treatment of headaches, the smoke from smouldering twigs can be inhaled to bring relief. In addition the tree is also seen as a very useful ornamental subject in gardens.