Wildflower Wednesday: Partidge Pea, a Fabulous Fabaceae Goes To Seed

 I love plants that make a big show and Chamaecrista fasciculata/Partridge Pea out did itself this year. I scattered seed (with inoculant) a few years ago and it's grown from a few plants to a large and floriferously beautiful patch. If you want a long blooming plant (mid June to today) that also attracts butterflies (Cloudless sulfur) and bees then this annual is a great choice.

Cloudless sulfur caterpillar

Partridge Pea has been a Wildflower Wednesday star twice and most regular readers are familiar with its wonderfulness:

 Here's what I love about it!

• long bloom season
• pollinator magnet
• pretty flowers
• ferny leaves that add texture to a garden bed
• host plant for butterfly caterpillars. Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars will feed on both the Partridge Pea’s leaves and its flowers. You can tell which the caterpillar concentrated on by its color, which may be yellow or green. 
• Nitrogen left in ground from decaying matter improves soil fertility.
• ecologically valuable 

 

For September WW,  I want to change directions and focus on how easy it is to grow this delightful annual from seed. Seed growing wildflowers from purchased seeds is becoming more important than ever these days, since many of us are not going out and about during COVID. Seeds are easy to come by on the internet and if you're lucky friends can also share them with you.

Seed Collection

As it happens, it's time to collect seeds from my Partridge Peas before they are flung all over the driveway...And, I do mean flung! I picked a few of the earliest ripe pods and set them on the kitchen counter only to find the little rectangular seeds everywhere. It seems that as the pods continued to ripen they twisted open and the seeds exploded onto the counter.

Here's the scoop, when the seed pods are ripe they twist as they dry, splitting the pod open along its seams flinging the seeds into the air to land near and far from the plant.

 Plants have clever mechanisms to insure their continuity.

Too early to collect seeds

Like most other legumes/Fabaceaes form pods in late summer /early fall. The time to collect seeds is just before they are ready to twist open. Since the seed pods don't all ripen at once, I can collect individual brown seed pods by clipping them off with scissors. Yes, some pop open, but, I usually manage to get most of the seeds into my collection bowl. 

cover your bowl if the pods haven't all opened

If the entire stalk is ripe grab the bottom of the stalk and pull your hand up the stalk. You may have to cut some of the pods off with scissors anyway or you can clip off the stalk, but I like to leave the stalk to decay (it provides cover for critters and the decaying taproot can improve the soil). I don't save my seeds to plant in spring, I fall sow them where I want them to grow. This makes the most sense for me. If you purchase seed or are given seed then you can fall/winter sow or if you live further south, you can treat them and wait till very early spring. Don't worry, inoculant is not always necessary, especially if you have fertile soil.

• Cold Stratify Seeds: Step by Step Process
• Place a 1/4 cup of sand (or more) in a mixing bowl. ...
• Add your desired seed amount to the sand. ...
• Place sand/seed mixture in a ziploc bag and seal.
• Label the variety and date clearly on the bag.
• Place in the refrigerator for 10-30 or more day, depending upon seed type and requirements, before planting.

grasses, Rudbeckias, Phlox can hold their own against Partridge pea

Once established, you’ll never have to plant again because it enthusiastically self-sows. Ignore folks who call it invasive, it's not, but it is as I said earlier enthusiastic (okay, it can be aggressive, but, more aggressive plants can eventually crowd it out). Just yank out those you don't want or dig them up to share with a friend. Partridge pea does have a tap root and has been reported to be resistant to transplanting. I haven't found that to be true, but, then, I do move them to containers when they are smaller, and let them get established, then plant them. The taproot does several things-helps them resist drought and as the plants die back and decay it improves soil fertility/adds nitrogen to soil.

Planting

As I said earlier, Partridge pea is a prolific self-seeder and is easily propagated. I scattered purchased seed (Prairie Moon Nursery) several years ago. They came with inoculant (helps legumes grow) since then, I just let them drop their seeds in fall and sprout in the spring. I did not scarify my seeds. The winter weather takes care of scarification. The seeds have a hard outer shell that needs to be thinned or cracked to allow water to enter and freezing and thawing over winter takes care of it. Water is that magic elixir that makes seeds grow.

If you aren't winter sowing then you can stratify your seed. Partridge Pea only takes ten days of moist cold treatment to stratify, please note you will have to scarify the seed, too (nick the seed so water can get in) The hard outer shell must be thinned (with emory board) or gently cracked to improve chances for germination. After their cold period is up plant them and cover with soil...less than 1/2 inch deep. Again, I just tossed mine in the fall and most germinated.

 

It is an excellent plant to use in disturbed areas as it tends to establish quickly. Partridge pea is also a nitrogen-fixer, so it may improve and enrich soils, allowing for the introduction of more demanding plants into your landscape.

Particulars:

Family: Fabaceae 

Common Name: Partridge Pea, sleeping plant, showy partridge pea, prairie senna, large-flowered sensitive-pea, dwarf cassia, partridge pea senna, locust weed, golden cassia. 

Botanical Name: Chamaecrista fasciculata 

Annual: plant in fall with appropriate inoculant 

Range: native to the Southeast and throughout much of the U.S. east of the Rockies. 

Light Requirements: Full Sun, Half Sun / Half Shade 

Flower Color: Yellow with a touch of red Height: 24-36" tall Bloom Time: July and I hope into the fall 

Fruit: a straight, narrow pod 1½ to 2½ inches long, which splits along 2 sutures as it dries; the pod sides spiral to expel the seeds some distance from the parent plant. I always wondered why seed pods of legumes were twisted!  

Seed: Fertile flowers mature into a flat straight pod that is green and slightly hairy, turning dark brown and smooth at maturity at which time they split with a twisting action which can fling the seeds away from the plant.

Propagation: They require at least 10 days of cold stratification for germination plus scarification. An legume inoculum helps. I plant in the fall without any treatment and let nature do the work.  Fall/winter sow to make your life easy.

Host Plant: Cloudless Sulphur, Sleepy Orange, and Little Yellow, Ceraunus Blue and Gray Hairstreak  caterpillars. A good nectar source that also attracts many pollinators in addition to butterflies. (source) 

Comments:  It's used in the USA for cover cropping, ornate flowers in native gardens, honey crop, as an annual reseeding legume for restoration and conservation plantings, and wildlife food. Its seeds are a favorite food for many birds, including bobwhite quail and endangered prairie chickens, it provides cover for wildlife, is a pioneer plant in poor and disturbed areas, improving soils as a nitrogen fixer. It grows in dense stands and the decaying stalks provide covering for birds, small mammals and waterfowl.

I hope this helps you decide to plant this delightful beauty! Happy Wildflower Wednesday.

xoxogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. I am so glad you stopped by. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants; it's all about celebrating wildflowers. Please leave a comment when you add your url to Mr Linky.
 

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Partridge Pea makes a stand

It's been half a dozen years since Partridge Pea/Chamaecrista fasciculata was a Wildflower Wednesday star. That's way too long for such a fabulous Fabaceae to sit on the sidelines.

Chamaecrista fasciculata is an annual that grows in poor sandy or gravely soil. It forms large stands if happy and you can count on blooms for several months. It has attractive blue-green pinnate leaves and showy flowers that are a brilliant yellow with a red blotch at the base and dark red anthers. The flowers grow in the leaf axils all along the sprawling stem.

It first caught my eye at Radnor Lake, growing on a hill off the Lake Trail in dry soil and high shade. A few weeks later I spotted it at Bison Park, a little mini prairie in a nearby neighborhood. When I wrote about it back in 2011, I thought for sure it would be an easy plant to establish. Friends sent me seeds, but they didn't grow. Nothing happened until I got serious and ordered seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery. What I learned was that Partridge Pea like other members of the Pea Family, harbor beneficial bacteria called rhizobia on their roots and with out the bacteria they just won't grow. PMN includes the inoculum with Partridge Pea seeds. The seeds arrived with their inoculum and following the nursery's instructions, were inoculated prior to planting them last fall*.

flowers, buds and seed capsules

 Voila! Partridge Peas made a stand and I am one happy gardener. The bees are happy, too,

Bumbles busily work the flowers in the early morning.

In researching Partridge Pea for this post I learned a couple of new things. First, those cool flowers, that the bumbles make a mad dash for every morning, have no nectar, only pollen. The bees are  attracted to the food pollen on the purple anthers, and get dusted with the reproductive pollen from the yellow anthers.  Nature is amazing and plant reproduction is so cool.

Partridge Peas are not nectarless. This is the second cool thing I learned~Nectar is produced at the base of the leaf in tiny, reddish-orange glands called nectares.

Extrafloral nectaries along the stem

Nectares are nectar-secreting glandular organ in a flower (floral) or on a leaf or stem (extrafloral). Our Wildflower Wednesday star has ENFs that are loaded with nectar and very attractive to ants and other pollinators. It keeps getting cooler.

Don't you think the ferny leaves are a great backdrop to those bright yellow flowers?

Some gardeners shy away from annuals, but, that's a mistake. Collinsea verna, Western Daisy, Sunflowers, Black-eyed Susans and Heleniums are just a few of the wonderful annuals to consider for your garden. Add Partridge Pea to the list of wildlife friendly and valuable annuals. Don't worry that it's a one season wonder, it should reseed and make a nice stand in your garden!  

 Here's what I love about it!

• long bloom season
• pollinator magnet
• pretty flowers
• ferny leaves that add texture to a garden bed
• host plant for butterfly caterpillars. Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars will feed on both the Partridge Pea’s leaves and its flowers. You can tell which the caterpillar concentrated on by its color, which may be yellow or green.
• ecologically valuable 

Cloudless sulfur butterfly caterpillar

The Particulars

Family: Fabaceae
Common Name: Partridge Pea, sleeping plant, showy partridge pea, prairie senna, large-flowered sensitive-pea, dwarf cassia, partridge pea senna, locust weed, golden cassia.
Botanical Name: Chamaecrista fasciculata
Annual: plant in fall with appropriate inoculant
Range: native to the Southeast and throughout much of the U.S. east of the Rockies.
Light Requirements: Full Sun, Half Sun / Half Shade
Flower Color: Yellow with a touch of red
Height: 24-36" tall
Bloom Time: July and I hope into the fall
Fruit: a straight, narrow pod 1½ to 2½ inches long, which splits along 2 sutures as it dries; the pod sides spiral to expel the seeds some distance from the parent plant. I always wondered why seed pods of legumes were twisted!
Host Plant: Cloudless Sulphur, Sleepy Orange, and Little Yellow, Ceraunus Blue and Gray Hairstreak  caterpillars. A good nectar source that also attracts many pollinators in addition to butterflies. (source)
Comments:  It's used in the USA for cover cropping, ornate flowers in native gardens, honey crop, as an annual reseeding legume for restoration and conservation plantings, and wildlife food. Its seeds are a favorite food for many birds, including bobwhite quail and endangered prairie chickens, it provides cover for wildlife, is a pioneer plant in poor and disturbed areas, improving soils as a nitrogen fixer. It grows in dense stands and the decaying stalks provide covering for birds, small mammals and waterfowl.

What ever it's called in your neck of the woods, this fabulous Fabaceae has excellent wildlife value...Not bad for an annual!
xoxogail

Thanks for stopping by to help celebrate Wildflower Wednesday. Btw, *I've written about Prairie Moon Nursery before Some catalogs are better than others do check it out.

Wildflower Wednesday is about sharing wildflowers all over this great big beautiful world. It doesn't matter if we sometimes show the same plants, how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most. I hope you join the celebration...It's always the fourth Wednesday of the month!





Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Partridge Pea

Partridge Pea/Chamaecrista fasciculata~it's not in my garden but, it might find a home here. Other than recognizing it as a pea family member I knew very little about it. I love the bright yellow petals, each with a touch of red; but, long time readers know that I try to keep my garden agreements with C and L. As pretty as these flowers are I do not think a gorgeous flowering face is enough to base a gardening relationship upon. I wanted to know more before I made a significant investment in seed or plant material. Just because they are native to Nashville doesn't mean they will successfully grow in the challenging conditions in my garden.

Radnor Lake from the trail

A good way to learn about endemic plants is at local natural areas. So, I decided to watch where it was growing at Radnor Lake while walking with my friends. But, a funny thing happened while observing Partridge Pea; we noticed there were several other Fabaceae family members growing here and there.

Senna marilandica with its nearly square seed pods

Like Southern Wild Senna. It's thriving at Radnor Lake and the Bumble Bees love it. The wildflower literature says that it's found growing in large stands in moist open woods, fields and cedar glades throughout Tennessee and the Eastern US. While I do like this legume~and those cool seedpods~it might need more moisture than Clay and Limestone can provide.

S obtusifolia is aka Sicklepod

Then I found Senna obtusifolia. Another good looking legume, but, it has an unpleasant odor and is an introduced subtropical species. It has great looking leaves and the flowers have a nice nodding habit, but, it's not a native.

A small planting at the visitor center

Which brings us back to Partridge Pea, sleeping plant, showy partridge pea, prairie senna, large-flowered sensitive-pea, dwarf cassia, partridge pea senna, locust weed, golden cassia. What ever it's called in your neck of the woods, this fabulous Fabaceae has excellent wildlife value.

A very large and happy stand at Bison Meadows.

Partridge Pea is an annual that grows about three foot tall. The small paired leafletsare light sensitive and close at night. The showy yellow and red flowers are small and grow in clusters on the stem. It's in bloom late summer through early Fall. I've not seen the fruit, but, it's described as a straight, narrow pod 1½ to 2½ inches long, which splits along 2 sutures as it dries; the pod sides spiral to expel the seeds some distance from the parent plant. I always wondered why seed pods of legumes were twisted!

It grows in dense stands, as seen above at Bison Meadows and the decaying stalks provide covering for birds, small mammals and waterfowl. It's a known honey plant, often occurring where few other honey plants are found. Nectar is not available in the flowers of showy partridge pea but is produced by small orange glands at the base of each leaf. Ants often seek the nectar and are frequent visitors. (see photo below for visiting ant) The common sulfur butterfly lays its eggs on the leaves, and the larvae use the leaves as a food source. (source)

While it is a wonderful plant for erosion control, looks spectacular in flower, feeds critters, provides habitat, fixes nitrogen, has low water needs once established there is one caveat~partridge pea foliage is nutritious, but, it can be poisonous and should be considered potentially dangerous to cattle.

I think it's safe to grow here and, yes, I did find a seed source!

xxoogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. I am so glad you stopped by. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants; it's all about celebrating wildflowers. Please leave a comment when you add your url to Mr Linky.


This post was written by Gail Eichelberger for my blog Clay and Limestone Copyright 2011. This work protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.