Partridge Pea
Chamaecrista fasciculata
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Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) is a cheerful annual wildflower of sunny, sandy, and disturbed ground. From midsummer into fall it produces bright yellow flowers with reddish centers, set against fine, fern-like compound leaves that fold up when touched. As a legume, it fixes nitrogen and is often used in restoration seed mixes to help rebuild poor soils. It is one of the wildflowers seeded into the meadow at the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden.
Partridge Pea is a wildlife favorite: small cup-shaped glands at the base of its leaves (extrafloral nectaries) feed ants and other beneficial insects, it is a larval host for several sulphur butterflies, and its seeds are eaten by game birds — including the partridge that gives it its name.
Quick Facts
| Scientific name | Chamaecrista fasciculata |
| Family | — |
| Height | 1-3 ft |
| Bloom time | Jul-Sep |
| Sun | Full sun |
| Moisture | Dry |
| Soil | Sand |
| Wildlife value | Nitrogen-fixing annual; extrafloral nectaries feed ants and wasps; seed for quail and songbirds |
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