Wildflower (forb) · Fabaceae
Maryland senna
Senna marilandica
Maryland senna is recorded as native to 26 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 570 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Maryland senna at a glance
- Native in
- 570 counties, across 26 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5b PLANTS minimum temperature −18°F
- Mature height
- 6.6 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −18°F; zone 5b winters bottom out at −15°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Maryland senna is recorded as native to 26 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 570 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 570 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 3 counties
- Arkansas 41 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 11 counties
- Georgia 11 counties
- Illinois 59 counties
- Indiana 27 counties
- Iowa 5 counties
- Kansas 46 counties
- Kentucky 42 counties
- Louisiana 33 counties
- Mississippi 9 counties
- Missouri 81 counties
- Nebraska 3 counties
- New York 2 counties
- North Carolina 16 counties
- Ohio 25 counties
- Oklahoma 16 counties
- Pennsylvania 11 counties
- South Carolina 1 county
- Tennessee 44 counties
- Texas 19 counties
- Virginia 43 counties
- West Virginia 18 counties
- Wisconsin 3 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 6.6 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 20 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −18°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 160
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- Medium
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Fabaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SEMA11
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Senna marilandica (PLANTS symbol SEMA11).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources