Prairie Home Conservation Area, located in eastern Cooper County, is an upland area with a mix of oldfields, small cropfields, grasslands, and woodlands.
The original acquisition in 1963 included 212
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Scientific Name
Chamaecrista fasciculata (formerly Cassia fasciculata)
Family
Fabaceae (beans, peas)
Description
Showy partridge pea is an annual with upright stems, usually without branches. Flowers 1 to several, about 1 inch across, arising from leaf axils. Petals 5, yellow (rarely white), sometimes reddish-tinged at the base; one side petal curves around the stamens; the lowest petal is the largest. Blooms July–October. Leaves compound, pinnately divided, with up to 18 leaflets that are narrow, short, linear. Leaflets fold up along the midrib at night into a sleeping position, and often upon being touched. Fruit a legume (short beanlike pod) 1–2½ inches long, black when mature. When mature and dry, the two sides separate suddenly, flinging the seeds a yard or more away.
Similar species: Small-flowered, or sensitive partridge pea (C. nictitans) is about half as tall, branches a bit more, and has inconspicuous flowers no bigger than about ½ inch wide. It grows mostly south of the Missouri River.
Size
Height: commonly to 2 feet, sometimes nearly 3 feet.
Where To Find
Scattered to common nearly statewide.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs in fields, pastures, waste places, roadsides, and railroads, as well as glades, upland prairies, openings in upland forests, savannas, ledges and tops of bluffs, and banks of streams and rivers. Partridge pea is one of the most commonly seen roadside plants of early fall.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower.
Human Connections
Partridge pea is growing more popular as a native wildflower for gardening and naturalizing. It attracts pollinators, has attractive flowers and leaves, and requires little extra water.
The interesting flowers and their interactions with bumblebees have been a topic of research for biologists who study plant-insect interactions. This is a rich field of study; it requires knowledge of both botany and entomology, and it has applications for agriculture, horticulture, sustainability, and conservation.
Ecosystem Connections
Our two partridge pea species are important wildlife food plants and are sometimes planted for this purpose. Deer and livestock eat the nutritious foliage, though some compounds in the plant can cause digestive upset if too much is eaten. Quail, turkey, and other birds are fond of the seeds.
The special arrangement of flower parts encourages what is called "buzz pollination" by bumblebees, and ants visiting nectar glands in the leaf stems remove the plant’s insect pests.
Nyctinasty, the plant’s tendency to close up its leaflets at night, is thought to be an adaption to control water loss or afford protection from herbivores. Many members of the bean family exhibit this characteristic.
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The interesting, bright yellow flowers of showy partridge pea are immediately recognizable.
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The leaflets of showy partridge pea fold up along the midrib at night into a so-called sleeping position.
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Showy partridge pea is one of the most commonly seen roadside plants of early fall.
Credit
Jim Rathert
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The fruits of showy partridge pea are legumes that are 1–2½ inches long and turn black when they mature. These are literally bean pods, because they are in the bean family. When mature and dry, the two sides of the pod separate suddenly, flinging the seeds away.
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In partridge peas, the special arrangement of the flower parts encourages what is called “buzz pollination” by bumblebees.
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Similar Species
Similar Species
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Where to See Species
This area was established in 1976, after the Schifferdecker family donated 80 acres and the Conservation Department purchased an additional 160 acres.
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!