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Coues' senna
Senna covesii
Senna covesii (desert senna, Coues' senna, rattleweed, rattlebox, dais, or cove senna) is a perennial subshrub in the family Fabaceae, native to the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert in southeastern California, southern Nevada, and Arizona in the United States, and northern Baja California in Mexico. It is found on desert plains and in sandy washes between 300 and 900 m above sea level, and is very common in Joshua Tree National Park. The specific epithet honors ornithologist Elliott Coues.
It grows to 30–60 cm tall, and is leafless most of the year. The leaves are pinnate, 3–7 cm long, with two or three pairs of leaflets (no terminal leaflet); the leaflets are elliptical, 1.0-2.5 cm long. The flowers are yellow in color, with five rounded petals about 12 mm long.
From the article Senna covesii on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
In human culture
The O'odham people of the Sonoran Desert call it "ko'ovĭ ta:tam" or "ko'ovĭ ta:tk", which means "rattlesnake's teeth" or "rattlesnake's premonition". Traditionally, the plants were created when First Born removed the harmless teeth of the rattlesnake and threw them far away before creating new teeth for the rattlesnake from the rays of the sun.
Wikipedia: “Society and culture”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Senna covesii in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 79059.