Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 171 



GOATS RUE; CAT GUT (Tephrosia virginiana). 



We find this herb in most all dry, sandy, waste places 

 from N. H. to Minn, and southwards. 



It is a pea-like plant with a simple, silky-haired, 

 erect stem, leafy to the top where it terminates in a 

 dense raceme or panicle of yellowish-white flowers 

 marked with purple. The flowers are large and num- 

 erous; they have a rounded standard, but little long- 

 er than the wings and keel. The long leaves are com- 

 pounded of seventeen to twenty-nine linear-oblong 

 leaflets. Its roots are long, very slender and very 

 tough; it is from these qualities of the roots that the 

 plant receives its common names. 



PARTRIDGE PEA (Cassia Chamaecrista) is a 

 handsome species with large, showy, yellow flowers 

 measuring about 1 1-4 inches across; on slender ped- 

 icels from the angles of the leaves, usually either sing- 

 ly or in pairs; often the five, large, rounded petals 

 have purplish spots at their bases; after flowering, 

 long erect seed pods are left in the place of each of 

 the blossoms. 



The leaves of the Partridge Pea are long and com- 

 pounded of 20-30 small, blunt, lance-shaped leaflets, 

 each with a tiny awl-like point. The stem is erect, 

 rather smooth, and grows one or two feet tall. We 

 find this plant in dry or sandy fields throughout the 

 United States. 



WILD SENSITIVE PLANT (Cassia nictitans) is 



quite similar but much taller. The flowers are small 

 and on short stems, in groups of two or three at the 

 bases of the leaves. The leaves are compounded of 

 10-20 small leaflets, less than 3-4 inches long; they 

 are very sensitive and close, or fold together, at night, 

 or in the daytime if handled roughly. It is found 

 from Me. to Pla. and west to Nebr. anrl Tex. 



