Candelabra Bush

The shrub stands 3–4 metres (9.8–13.1 ft) tall, with leaves 50–80 centimetres (20–31 in) long. The leaves close in the dark. The inflorescence looks like a yellow candle. The fruit, shaped like a straight pod, is up to 25 cm long. Its seeds are distributed by water or animals. The seed pods (fruits) are nearly straight, dark brown or nearly black, about 15 centimetres (5.9 in) long, and 15 millimetres (0.59 in) wide. On both sides of the pods is a wing that runs the length of the pod. A pod contains 50 to 60 flattened, triangular seeds.

Senna alata is native to most of the Neotropics (from Mexico and the West Indies to Paraguay), and can be found in diverse habitats. In the tropics, it grows up to an altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). It is brought over to Malesia of the Old World by the Spanish galleon trade in Manila 16th century; however they have been adapted in communities of the southeast Asian, North Australian and African ranges with greater ornamental and medicinal values. It is so naturalized in the Malay Peninsula (known in Malay: gelenggang) that its blooming from mid November-December there has become incorporated in the Kedahan traditional rice planting cycle (piama) as a marker of its beginning dry season.

Senna alata (also known as Cassia alata) is often called the ringworm bush because of its very effective fungicidal properties, for treating ringworm and other fungal infections of the skin. The leaves are ground in a mortar to obtain a kind of "green cotton wool". This is mixed with the same amount of vegetable oil and rubbed on the affected area two or three times a day. A fresh preparation is made every day. Its active ingredients include the yellow chrysophanic acid. Its laxative effect, due to its anthraquinone content, is also well proven. Senna alata is locally known as akapulko in the Philippines (after the port of Acapulco) where it is used as both an ornamental and medicinal plant due to its laxative, purgative and anti-fungal properties. In Sri Lanka, known as Ath-thora (ඇත්තෝර), it is used as an ingredient in Sinhala traditional medicine. Yoruba of west Africa refer to it as ewe àsùnwòn.

This species is easy to grow from the seed. They may either be sown directly or started in a nursery.