Partridge Pea

Description

Chamaecrista fasciculata, commonly known as Partridge Pea, is a native annual legume.

The seeds are an important food source for the Bobwhite Quail and Greater Prairie Chicken. Plants provide cover for game birds and browse for deer. Flowers are a good nectar source for bees and butterflies.

Improves soil fertility by fixing nitrogen. Because the foliage is strongly cathartic, it is usually avoided by grazing animals.

Popular long-flowering ornamental annual that is perfect for a naturalized setting or meadow where it can freely spread. Native gardens.  This plant prefers full sun and average to dry conditions. The soil can contain sand, loam, gravel, or clay, to which this plant will add nitrogen. It favors poor soil because of reduced competition from other plants. Partridge Pea is easy to grow, but can spread readily in dry, open situations.

It is native to a variety of habitats including rocky open woods, upland slopes, ridges, bluffs, prairies, grasslands, rocky fields and open thickets in the eastern, mid-western and Great Plains sections of the U. S.  Sometimes Partridge Pea is deliberately planted to stabilize banks around ditches and other areas, from where it frequently escapes. This plant favors disturbed areas.