Partridge pea seeds are high in phosphorus content and protein value, and low in crude fiber and lignin making digestibility generally high. How long does it take for partridge peas to sprout?.This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science. "A Biological Study: A General Study of the Two Species from Different Localities". "Regulation of fruit and seed production in an annual legume, Cassia fasciculata". "Ecological and genetic factors contributing to the low frequency of male sterility in Chamaecrista Fasciculata (Fabaceae)". US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. The common sulfur butterfly lays its eggs on the leaves, and the larvae use the leaves as a food source. Ants often seek the nectar and are frequent visitors. Nectar is not available in the flowers of showy partridge pea but is produced by small orange glands at the base of each leaf. Partridge pea is considered an important honey plant, often occurring where few other honey plants are found. Partridge pea often grows in dense stands, producing litter and plant stalks that furnish cover for upland game birds, small mammals, small non-game birds, and waterfowl. Seeds of this legume are also eaten by the greater and lesser prairie-chicken, ring-necked pheasant, mallard, grassland birds, and field mice. Partridge pea was found to be one of the most important fall and winter foods of bobwhite quail in Alabama. The seed is one of the major food items of northern bobwhite and other quail species because it remains in sound condition throughout the winter and early spring. The fruit is a straight, narrow pod 1.5 to 2.5 inches (38 to 64 mm) long, which splits along 2 sutures as it dries the pod sides spiral to expel the seeds some distance from the parent plant. The showy yellow flowers, about 1 inch (25 mm) across, grow 2 to 4 together in clusters on the stem. Like other legumes, the plant displays nyctinasty, which is a circadian rhythmic nastic movement wherein the leaves open and close in response to day and night cycles. The leaves consist of 10 to 15 pairs of small, narrow leaflets that are somewhat delicate to the touch. It is also grown as an ornamental or for honey production. It is considered an excellent choice for planting in disturbed areas, as it will quickly cover an area, preventing erosion, while still allowing other plants to become established. It thrives in areas that have been burned recently before declining in number in the following years. There are extrafloral nectaries on the leaf stems, which attract a different set of insects: sweat bees, flies, wasps, and ants. Long-tongued bees such as bumblebees, honey bees, long-horned bees, and leafcutting bees pollinate the flowers. The flowers have yellow anthers that produce reproductive pollen, and purple anthers that produce food pollen, but no nectar. This phenomenon has been studied in a variety of plants as a possible evolutionary step towards dioecy, in which male and female flowers occur on separate plants. The flowers are hermaphroditic, although a fraction of plants, less than 5%, do not produce sufficient pollen to reproduce as males. It has bright yellow flowers from early summer until first frost, with flowers through the entire flowering season if rainfall is sufficient. It is an annual which grows to approximately 0.5 meters (1 ft 8 in) tall. Cassia chamaecrista Irwin and Barneby, 1982Ĭhamaecrista fasciculata, the partridge pea, is a species of legume native to most of the eastern United States.
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