LEGUMINOSAE 



PULSE FAMILY 



PARTRIDGE PEA 



Cassia Chamaecrista L. 



The Partridge Pea grows in dry open places from Massachu- 

 setts to Florida and west to Minnesota, Texas and Mexico. 

 It is rather rare in the northern part of Illinois but is common 

 farther south. 



The plant is an erect, 

 widely branched annual i-iyi 

 feet high. Its branches may 

 be scantily hairy or entirely 

 smooth. The 1 8-30 leaflets are 

 somewhat sensitive to the touch 

 and often fold up when the 

 plant is handled. The petiole 

 bears a cup-shaped gland below 

 the lowest pair of leaflets. 



The showy yellow flowers 

 are produced from July to 

 September and in contrast to 

 most members of this family 

 are not butterfly shaped. The 

 calyx is composed of 5 small 

 green sepals only slightly 

 united at the base. The 5 

 yellow petals are slightly un- 

 equal and usually 2 or 3 have 

 a purple spot at the base. 



The 10 stamens are distinct 



and the anthers, 4 yellow and 6 purple, are unequal and pollen 

 bearing. There is i pistil with a slender style and the fruit 

 is a many-seeded pod which may be smooth or hairy. When 

 the pod is fully mature it opens somewhat elastically, the halves 

 twisting and throwing out the seeds. 



The commoner form in the south is the Large Partridge Pea, 

 Cassia Chamaecrista L. var. robusta Pollard, which is stouter and 

 very hairy. 



The Wild Sensitive Plant, Cassia nictitans L., is a small erect 

 or spreading annual having numerous small compound leaves with 

 10-4+ leaflets, there being no odd terminal leaflet. Each leaf bears 

 a small gland at the base of the stalk. The very small yellow 

 flowers are totally inconspicuous, and they, together with its road- 

 side habit, give it the appearance of a weed. This species is 

 abundant along sandy stretches of road in southern counties. 



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