Privet senna (Senna ligustrina)

Also known as: privet wild sensitive plant, privet cassia

Quick Facts

• Type: wildflower
• Size: 4-8 ft tall, 3-6 ft wide
• Sun: full-part
• Water: medium
• Soil: sandy, well-drained; tolerates poor soils and disturbed sites
• USDA zones: 9a-11

A fast-growing shrub with pinnate leaves, showy yellow flowers, and slender bean pods. A powerhouse butterfly plant — larval host for both the Cloudless Sulphur and the Orange-barred Sulphur.

Native to coastal hammock edges and disturbed areas from about Brevard and Levy counties southward; grows fast, blooms from fall through spring, and is one of the easiest native sulphur hosts to establish.

In the Landscape

Use as a specimen shrub in butterfly gardens, in hedges, or massed at the back of borders. Space 3-4 ft apart. Pair with firebush, wild coffee, and other South Florida butterfly plants for a layered wildlife border.

Care & Propagation

Plant in full sun to part shade and water until established. It grows fast and can get leggy — prune after flowering to keep it bushy, and remove unwanted seedlings before they establish. No fertilizer needed.

Propagate by seed, which germinates readily — scarify or pour hot (not boiling) water over the seeds and soak overnight before sowing in spring. It self-seeds prolifically once established. Seeds typically sprout in spring.

Wildlife Value

Privet senna is a primary larval host for the Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) and the Orange-barred Sulphur (Phoebis philea). Caterpillars feed on the leaves while the yellow flowers — blooming heaviest from autumn to late spring — provide nectar for bees and adult butterflies. The bean pods add food for seed-eating birds.

🌱 Fun fact: It can reach its full 8-foot height in a single year from seed — one of the fastest payback plants in Florida native gardening.

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🌴 In Florida

Native to coastal hammock edges and disturbed areas from about Brevard and Levy counties southward; grows fast, blooms from fall through spring, and is one of the easiest native sulphur hosts to establish.

🌿 Keep exploring

More Florida natives worth meeting:

• Alligator Flag (Thalia geniculata)
• American White Waterlily (Nymphaea odorata)
• Anisescented Goldenrod (Solidago odora)