LEGU MINOS AE (PULSE FAMILY) 



221 



Means of control 



Prevent seed production by early and persistent cutting through- 

 out the growing season, treating the shorn surfaces with salt for 

 the discouragement of new growth. For small areas, newly in- 

 fested, hand-pulling is a paying process. 



PARTRIDGE PEA 



Cassia Chamcecrista, L. 



Other English name: Large-flowered Sensitive Pea. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: July to September. 



Seed-time: September to November. 



Range: Massachusetts to Minnesota, southward to the Gulf of 



Mexico. 

 Habitat : Dry, sandy soil ; fields, meadows, pastures, roadsides, and 



waste places ; most troublesome in the Southwest. 



Pastures rankly infested with this weed are nearly useless, for it is 

 strongly cathartic and when eaten in any quantity by cattle and 

 sheep they "scour" very badly ; grazing horses are sickened in the 

 same way and must be relieved by 

 change of forage. Young stalks are 

 often mown and baled with the hay of 

 infested meadows, causing the same 

 trouble when the fodder is used in 

 winter. 



The plant is low and spreading, often 

 branching wider than its height of one 

 or two feet. When young the stem 

 may be sparsely hairy, but usually it is 

 smooth and pale green. Leaves pin- 

 nately compound, composed of ten to 

 fifteen pairs of small, entire, lance- 

 shaped leaflets each tipped with a 

 sharp bristle; petioles short, with per- 

 sistent, awl- shaped stipules and having 

 near the base a sessile gland. The 

 leaves are sensitive, and at night FIG. 158. Partridge Pea 

 "go to sleep" by folding their blades (Cassia Chamcecrista). x i. 



