• Family : CAESALPINIACEAE
  (Pea Or Bean Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : IMLI FAMILY (ईमली फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : LEGUMINOSAE
• Subfamily : Caesalpinioideae
• Basionym : Cassia alata L.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Senna alata (L.) Roxb.
• Common name : Candle Cassia, Candle Bush, Carrion Crow Bush, Candlesticks, Empress candle plant, Ringworm Cassia, Winged Senna
• Vernacular name : Dadmurdaare, Dadmari (Hindi); Aane thagathe (Kannada); Vandu raali, Seematyagatthi (Tamil); Dadrughana (Sanskrit); Chakrathakara, Elakayam, Malamthakara, Puzhukkadikonna, Puzhukkadithakara, Seema-agathi (Malayalam)
• Habit : Shrub
• Habitat : Along riversides and margin of ponds and also planted in gardens
• Comments / notes : In plains, often along water courses, near cultivation and also near habitations. Sometimes planted in gardens as an ornament.
• Key identification features : Large shrub or small tree; stipules persistent and deltoid
• Flower, Fruit : September-February
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Nellore district, Vishakapatnam district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Odisha : Mayurbhanj district
• Native : South America
• World Distribution : Pantropical
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2001 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 2; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; Sudhakar Reddy, C et al., 2009. Tree Wealth of Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Senna alata. Downloaded on 2 April 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)