Other common names for this plant include Chapman's wild sensitive plant, Bahama senna.

Native in the United States only to southern Florida, Mexican senna is a woody shrub that grows in pine rocklands and rockland hammocks. While other non-native sennas are available for purchase in south Florida, some are quick to escape cultivation and become invasive (such as Christmas senna, Senna pendula) and displacing native plants. Mexican senna is identified from other sennas by its woody stems.

To make matters ever so slightly more confusing, the scientific names of this plant, Senna mexicana var. chapmanii, has in the past been Cassia bahamensis, with its english name appearing as Bahama cassia. Different name, same plant.

Mexican senna provides year round bright yellow blooms, with heaviest flowering in the fall and winter months. It is available at native plant nurseries; it is also easily propagated from seed.

Importance as a caterpillar food source: Cloudless Sulphur, Sleepy Orange, and Orange-barred Sulphur caterpillars all use Mexican senna as a food source.

Importance as a butterfly nectar source: Be the first to rate the importance of Mexican senna as a nectar source!