At Booyong we have a rare plant species “Senna acclinis” which was discovered  by our friendly botanist

and is listed as endangered in NSW.

The shrub grows up to 3m tall and has compound leaves 15cm long with 6 pairs of opal-shaped leaflets. It is often found on the edges of subtropical and dry rainforests. The flowers are bright yellow and occur in spring and Autumn and the seed pod as you can see is narrow and 12-15cm long.

The plant pollinated by a variety of bees and there are two butterflies that breed on it, the Small Grass-yellow (Eurema Smilax) and the Yellow Migrant (Catopsilia Gorgophone). Senna acclinis is known to be a pollination plant for the jack-jumper ant Myrmecia nigrocincta. Whilst the plant is rare due to habitat clearing the fact that they can be pollinated by a large variety of bees is promising.

Senna acclinis can easily be mistaken for the introduced Senna (formerly Cassia) species which are common environmental weeds.

Part of Conservation Agreement is to propagate local species and we have collected some seeds to explore propagation on this species. If you would like to purchase some seeds of your own (with all proceeds going back into propagation and weed management of Booyong) please visit our newly created Ebay page.

It is propagated from scarified seed or boiling water which is commonly used for plants native to areas where bushfires regularly occur. The coat of the seed needs to be penetrated by boiling water whereas in the native bush the heat of the fire infiltrates the coat and allows moisture to reach the inside. Pouring boiling water over the seed creates a similar affect.

One method is to place seeds in a container filled with boiling water overnight. If the seed softens and swells it can be sown and others need to be retreated, if the seeds float they are infertile and can be thrown away.