Cassia grandis
(pink shower)

Preferred Scientific Name

• Cassia grandis L.f.

Preferred Common Name

• pink shower

Other Scientific Names

• Bactyrilobium grande Hornem.
• Bactyrilobium molle Schrader
• Cassia brasiliana Lam., nom. illeg.
• Cassia brasiliensis Buc'hoz
• Cassia mollis Vahl
• Cassia pachycarpa de Wit
• Cassia regia Standl.
• Cathartocarpus brasilianus (Lam.) Jacq.
• Cathartocarpus erubescens Ham.
• Cathartocarpus grandis (L. f.) Pers.

International Common Names

• English: appleblossom cassia; coral shower; horse cassia; liquorice tree
• Spanish: árbol de fuego; cañadonga; cañafistula; capote; carámano; carao; sandal; sándalo
• French: bâton casse; casse du Brésil

Local Common Names

• : bucut; canafistula; carague; carao; mucut; santal
• Belize: beef wood; bookoot; bookut; stinking toe
• Brazil: acácia; acácia-nacional; canafístula; canafístula-grande; cássia; cássia rosa; cássia-grande; cássia-rosa; cássia-rósea; gecuna; jeneúna; jeneúna; mali-mari; mare-mari; mariimari-preto; marimari; marimari; marimariana; marimari-grande; marimarirana; marimari-sarro; mariseiro; marizeiro; sarro; seruáia
• Cambodia: kreete; sac phle
• Cuba: canafistola cimarrona; canandonga; canandonga comun; canandonga de masa; cassia de Brasil
• Dominican Republic: canafistola; canafistula; chacara; chacaro; guayaba cimarrona
• Germany: Kassie, Grossfrüchtige
• Haiti: casse; casse espagnole
• Italy: cassia a grandi fruti
• Laos: brai xiem; may khoum
• Malaysia: kotek; kotek mamak
• Panama: cana fistula
• Sweden: rosenkassia
• Thailand: kanpaphruek
• Vietnam: [oo] m[oo]i; b[oof] c[aj]p d[or]

EPPO code

• CASGR (Cassia grandis)

Trade name

• carao
• pink shower

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Fabales
•                         Family: Fabaceae
•                             Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
•                                 Genus: Cassia
•                                     Species: Cassia grandis

Until the beginning of the 1980s, the Cassia genus was considered to be a very large genus of over 500 species. Bentham (1871) wrote that three groups within the Cassia genus were so distinct from one another that any species can always be unequivocally allocated to one of them; some main distinctions included fruit structure, stamen structure and arrangement, and nodulation (Lock, 1988). However, it was not until 1982 that Irwin and Barneby formally separated Cassia into three genera: Cassia L. emend. Gaertner, Senna Miller, and Chamaecrista Moench. Cassia now has only 20-30 species, whereas Senna and Chamaecrista comprise about equal numbers of species (about 260 and 270 respectively) (Irwin and Barneby, 1982; Toruan-Purba, 1999; Lock and Ford, 2004). These three genera are now largely accepted and together make up the subtribe Cassinae. Members of Cassia sens. strict. are mostly trees with relatively cylindrical and indehiscent fruits, and three large sigmoidally-curved filaments, many having showy flowers (Lock and Simpson, 1991; Lock and Ford, 2004). Cassia and Senna differ principally in stamen organization and in arid areas of Australia, taxonomic distinctions between and within the three genera are blurred by polyploidy, hybridization and apoximis (Lewis et al., 2005). In 1988, Lock presented new names and combinations for the Cassinae species in Africa, noting that “if Cassia were to continue to be used in its broad sense in Africa, there would be several species which would be consistently given different names in different continents” (Lock, 1988).

Cassia is thought to come from either the ancient Hebrew word quetsi’oth or the Greek word kasia or casia, for an aromatic or fragrant plant (Andreu et al., 2012, Royal Botanical Gardens, 2014). The name was first used by Dioscorides (40–90 AD), and Linnaeus was the first to use Cassia to signify members of this genus. The species name grandis refers to the great height of this tree, as C. grandis is one of the tallest Cassia species and can grow up to 30 m tall (Toruan-Purba, 1999; Andreu et al., 2012).

Deciduous or semi-deciduous tree, 15-25 (30) m tall, with a straight more-or-less cylindrical trunk up to 60 cm in diameter. The profuse, wide-spaced, dangling branching leads to a dense, umbrella-shaped canopy, and young branches and inflorescence are covered with rusty lanate indumentum. The bark is smooth, pale grey. The compound leaves are 30 cm x 10 cm, paripinnated and alternate with 8-20 pairs of leaflets. The leaflets are ca. 6 x 1.5 cm, narrow and elliptical, downy beneath, green above and are pink when young. The coral pink flowers occur on long axillary racemes along the branches over the whole crown. Each flower is 3 cm, has five large, pinkish-lavender sepals and an equal number of rounded and peach-coloured petals not uniform in shape. The flowers are initially red, fading to pink and later orange, with the median petal red with a yellow patch. There are three large stamens flanked by various smaller staminal appendages and a long, curved pistil. The mature indehiscent, cylindrical pod is up to 90 cm long and 2-6 cm wide with transverse striations. The seed orientation is a unique feature of the Cassia genus, as the seeds are transversely oriented and separated in individual cells within the pod (Janick and Paull, 2008). Inside each septum, one round, flattened, tan-coloured (1.5 cm) seed is surrounded by the dark-brown, sticky, bittersweet and strong-smelling pulp (Toruan-Purba, 1999; Janick and Paull, 2008).

C. grandis occurs in rainforests in riverine and roadside situations of Central and South America and the West Indies, and was dispersed by man from the Neotropics to Asia, West Africa, and other tropical regions (JSTOR Global Plants, 2014). C. grandis was present in Puerto Rico by 1881, as it was included in Bello’s flora along with its vernacular name, cañafistula cimarrona (Bello Espinosa, 1881). The species was observed growing in cultivation in Bermuda in 1918 (Britton, 1918), and by 1924 Britton & Wilson reported the species was not only cultivated and growing on the hillsides of southwestern Puerto Rico, but naturalized on St. Thomas, St. Croix, Cuba, Jamaica, and tropical continental America (Britton and Wilson, 1924). Although the species has been a long time resident in Puerto Rico, it seems to occur only as a cultivated plant as reported by Little et al. (1974). 

Soil drainage

• free
• seasonally waterlogged

Soil reaction

• acid

Soil texture

• light
• medium

C. grandis has spread largely by intentional and occasionally by accidental introductions, as it is widely valued as an ornamental and agroforestry tree as well as a medicinal and wood source. The species can be propagated by seed and vegetatively through cuttings and layering, but its seeds are very large and not easily abiotically dispersed by wind or water (ICRAF, 2014). The species thus relies primarily on human and animal vectors to disperse its seeds, as its pods with sweet, edible pulp remain on the tree for 4-5 months until blown down or taken by dispersal agents (Janzen, 1971; Toruan-Purba, 1999). Such agents include white-tailed deer (Odocoileusvirginianus), which swallow the seeds and pass them intact, squirrels (Sciurusvariegatoides), agoutis (Dasyproctapunctata), and pacas (Cuniculuspaca); all four animals chew through the hard pod wall with ease, and these animals, and perhaps some others, usually remove or chew up the entire pod crop within 1-3 months (Janzen, 1971). In agricultural settings cows often eat the pods but this leads to germination of the seeds in open pastures, where they hardly ever survive to maturity (Janzen, 1971).

C. grandis has been valued primarily as an ornamental and used for medicinal, agroforestry, and timber purposes, resulting in its widespread cultivation in tropical regions of America, Africa, and Asia (Toruan-Purba, 1999; PIER, 2014). However the species has already been reported to be invasive to Cuba (Oviedo Prieto et al., 2012) and an environmental weed in Australia (Randall, 2012), and given its wide distribution range could have a negative environmental impact. Although considered a species with very low risk of introduction (PIER, 2014), the species possesses several traits that pose threat to native flora, including repeated introductions outside of its native range, invasiveness outside its native range, profuse production of seeds which can remain viable for more than a year, and vegetative propogation by cutting and layering (Janzen, 1971; Toruan-Purba, 1999; Andreu et al, 2012; ICRAF, 2014). This species also forms part of the canopy, and so it may compete with native flora by shading. More research is needed on the species’ invasiveness and its potential negative impact on the environment. 

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Tolerant of shade
• Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)
• Long lived
• Has propagules that can remain viable for more than one year
• Reproduces asexually

• Reduced native biodiversity

• Competition - shading
• Poisoning

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately

C. grandis has been widely introduced for ornamental purposes, but has also been found useful for agricultural purposes; it is recommended for revegetation in especially periodically flooded areas, can be planted as a live fence, and is recommended for dry zone intercropping with perennial crops and in pastures, as cattle feed upon the plant’s fruit pods (ICRAF, 2014).

The species has also been used as food, as its fruit pods are edible to humans; in Central America, the membrane surrounding seeds is used as a chocolate substitute (ICRAF, 2014).

Economically, C. grandis is considered good for charcoal and fuelwood, and reported to give strong multipurpose wood, used in joinery, carpentry, and beams among other uses (Toruan-Purba, 1999). The seeds of C. grandis are also a potential commercial source of gums (seed gum is a potential binder for the pharmaceutical industry) (ICRAF, 2014).

The species has also been valued for a wide range of medicinal uses. The fruit pulp is used as a laxative similar to C. fistula, well known for its medicinal properties; apparently C. grandis is reported to be more powerful, and a decoction of the leaves is also used as a laxative, as well as in the treatment of lumbago (Toruan-Purba, 1999). Fresh juice of the leaves of C. grandis is used externally in the treatment of ringworm (ICRAF, 2014). Duke et al. (2009) provides an extensive list of the species’ medicinal uses in Latin America.