Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Showy partridge pea

SHOWY PARTRIDGE PEA

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Chamaecrista fasciculata (Michx. ) Greene var. fasciculata

[=Cassia chamaecrista L.]

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 4-48 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September

Stems:

Erect or ascending, usually branched, slender, short appressed-hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, stalked, 1-4 inches long, even-pinnately compound; leaflets 12-30, linear-oblong, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, less than 1/5 inch wide, glabrous; margins fringed with minute hairs; tips blunt or end in short, abrupt points; stipules persistent, to 2/5 inches long, tapering to points.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, 2-7-flowered, in leaf axils

Flowers:

Showy; sepals 5, lanceolate; petals 5, unequal in size, bright yellow; bases of upper 4 petals with reddish spot; lower petal larger, to 3/4 inch long, curving, without red spot; stamens 10, unequal, yellow or purple.

Fruits:

Pods, linear-oblong, flat, 1 to 2.75 inches long, less than .25 inch wide, brown; seeds 4-20, somewhat rectangular, flattened, small, dark.

Habitat:

Disturbed areas, prairies, open woods, waste ground and roadsides, in sandy or rocky soils.

Distribution:

Throughout except northwest corner of Kansas.

Toxicity:

Showy partridge pea can be mildly poisonous to livestock when consumed in large quantities, but deer seem unaffected.

Forage Value:

Upland game birds and songbirds eat the seeds, and deer and cattle consume the foliage.

Comments:

The leaves are touch-sensitive. They will fold when disturbed.