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 Note the closed leaves |
Common Name: Partridge-Pea, Senna
Scientific Name: Cassia fasciculata
Family: Fabaceae
Woodland Drive
Columbus, North Carolina
August 10, 2002
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Note the closed leaves |
These herbaceous annuals are 6 - 36 inches tall. The flowers, which are an inch or more broad, are not as strongly zygomorphic as the flowers of most legumes although the 5 petals do differ considerably in size. A native of the eastern and central U.S., these weedy plants frequently grow in old fields and along roadsides and forest margins throughout the state. June - September [Justice, William S. and Bell, C. Ritchie, Wild Flowers of North Carolina. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1968]
Note the drooping dark anthers and the finely cut compound leaves, somewhat sensitive to the touch. 1 - 2 feet. July - September [Peterson, Roger Tory and McKenny, Margaret, Peterson Field Guides: A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and Northcentral North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1968]
On open hillsides, in dry fields, along railway embankments, and in sandy soil partridge-pea attains a height of 1 - 3 feet. The leaves consist of 10 - 15 pairs of small, narrow leaflets that are somewhat delicate to the touch. The showy yellow flowers, about 1 inch across, grow 2 - 4 together in clusters on the stem. Of the 5 flower petals 2 or 3 often have a purple spot at the base. Flowers normally in July - September. The fruit is a straight, narrow, many-seeded pod 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches long, which, when mature, bursts and expels the seeds forcibly. This is a fairly common plant in some localities. [Stupka, Arthur, Wildflowers in Color. HarperPerennial, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1965]
Partridge pea is also known as the large-flowered sensitive pea because it has a gland located at the base of each leaflet that when touched causes the margins of the leaflet to curl inward. This plant grows in weedy areas and on woodland borders. [Alderman, J. Anthony, Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1997]
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Alphabetical Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Family Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Genus Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z