LEGUMINOSAE (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 Chamecrista, L. 
Other English name: Large-fiowered 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 ye. 158. — Partridge Pea 
“go to sleep” by folding their blades (Cassia Chamacrista). x 3. 
