Yellow and Orange 



5 petals, 3 forming an upper lip, 2 a lower one; 10 stamens 

 of 3 different kinds; i pistil. Stem: 3 to 8 ft. high, little 

 branched. Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compounded of 6 to 

 10 pairs of oblong leaflets. Fruit: A narrow, flat curving 

 pod, 3 to 4 in. long. 



Preferred Habitat Alluvial or moist, rich soil, swamps, roadsides. 



Flowering Season July August. 



Distribution New England, westward to Nebraska, south to the 

 Gulf States. 



Whoever has seen certain Long Island roadsides bordered 

 with wild senna, the brilliant flower clusters contrasted with the 

 deep green of the beautiful foliage, knows that no effect produced 

 by art along the drives of public park or private garden can match 

 these country lanes in simple charm. Bumblebees, buzzing 

 about the blossoms, may be observed "milking" the anthers 

 just as they do those of the partridge pea. No red spots on any 

 of these petals guide the visitors, as in the previous species, 

 however; for do not the three small, dark stamens, which are 

 reduced to mere scales, answer every purpose as pathfinders 

 here ? The stigma, turned sometimes to the right, sometimes to 

 the left, strikes the bee on the side; the senna being what 

 Delpino, the Italian botanist, calls a pleurotribe flower. 



While leaves of certain African and East Indian species of 

 senna are most valued for their medicinal properties, those of this 

 plant are largely collected in the Middle and Southern States as a 

 substitute. Caterpillars of several sulphur butterflies, which 

 live exclusively on cassia foliage, appear to feel no evil effects 

 from overdoses. 



Wild Indigo; Yellow or Indigo Broom; 

 Horsefly-Weed 



(Baptism tinctoria) Pea family 



Flowers Bright yellow, papilionaceous, about % in. long, on short 

 pedicels, in numerous but few flowered terminal racemes. 

 Calyx light green, 4 or 5-toothed ; corolla of 5 oblong petals, 

 the standard erect, the keel enclosing 10 incurved stamens 

 and i pistil. Stem: Smooth, branched, 2 to 4 ft. high. 

 Leaves: Compounded of 3 ovate leaflets. Fruit: A many- 

 seeded round or egg-shaped pod tipped with the awl-shaped 

 style. 



Preferred Habitat Dry, sandy soil. 



Flowering Season J une September. 



Distribution Maine and Minnesota to the Gulf States. 



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