Chamaecrista nictitans |
Chamaecrista nictitans var. leptadenia |
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partridge pea, sensitive partridge or wild sensitive pea, sensitive partridge pea, sensitive pea, wild sensitive-pea |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, rarely over-wintering, to 0.8(–1)[–1.2] m. | Herbs to 0.6(–0.8) m. | ||||||||
Stems | erect, incurved ascending. |
glabrous or hairs whitish, to 0.7 mm. |
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Leaves | (1.5–)2–8(–9)[15–21] cm; petiole (1.5–)2–7 mm; extrafloral nectary 1(or 2), near mid petiole, stipitate; leaflets (6–)8–28(–32)[–40] pairs, blades usually straight, sometimes falcate, linear, narrowly oblong, or oblong-elliptic, (3–)4–26 × 1–3 mm. |
(2–)2.5–8(–9) cm; stipules usually persistent; petiole (1.5–)2–5(–6) mm, usually glabrous; leaflets (7–)10–22(–25) pairs, blades (3–)4–14 × 1–3 mm, margins ciliolate, some hairs 0.4+ mm. |
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Racemes | 1(or 2)-flowered, axillary. |
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Pedicels | 0.5–4[–16] mm; bracteoles mid pedicel. |
0.5–4 mm. |
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Flowers | calyx greenish, sepal venation reticulate; corolla yellow, sometimes fading pinkish, petals to 3.5–8(–9)[–16] mm; stamens [2–]4–8[or 9]; anthers yellow-orange or red, to (1.4–)1.6–3[–9.5] mm, different sizes; ovary usually hairy throughout, rarely glabrate. |
corolla often fading pinkish, petals to 3.5–7(–7.5) mm; stamens (4 or)5–8, staminodia 0; anthers to 2–3 mm; ovary hairy throughout; ovules 8–19. |
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Legumes | straight, linear-oblong, [14–](15–)18–48(–56)[–78] × [2.4–]2.5–5.5(–5.8) mm. |
(17–)20–48(–56) × 2.5–3.8(–4) mm. |
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Seeds | [1.9–](2.2–)2.4–3.4[–3.7] mm. |
2.5–3.2 mm. |
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Chamaecrista nictitans |
Chamaecrista nictitans var. leptadenia |
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Phenology | Flowering mid summer–mid fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Arid grasslands, desert slopes and washes, thorn-forests, open spaces in pine and oak forests. | |||||||||
Elevation | 10–2000 m. [30–6600 ft.] | |||||||||
Distribution |
United States; Mexico; Central America; West Indies; South America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru)
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AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Jalisco, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Sonora) |
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Discussion | Varieties 13 (3 in the flora). Chamaecrista nictitans is distinguished from the closely similar C. fasciculata (and C. deeringiana) by its globose-ovoid floral buds, which are ovoid-acuminate in the latter two species. All three varieties in the flora area belong to subsp. nictitans and are characterized by two to nine fertile stamens, while all other varieties have ten fertile stamens (they belong to the other subspecies): subsp. brachypoda (Bentham) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, subsp. disadena (Steudel) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, and subsp. patellaria (Colladon) H. S. Irwin & Barneby (H. S. Irwin and R. C. Barneby 1982). The key to varieties in the flora is adapted from Irwin and Barneby. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety leptadenia is known from Cochise, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz counties in Arizona, Doña Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, and Luna counties in New Mexico, and Brewster, Jeff Davis, and Presidio counties in Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Cassia nictitans | Cassia leptadenia, C. leptadenia var. mensalis, C. leptadenia, C. nictitans var. mensalis | ||||||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Moench: Methodus, 272. (1794) | (Greenman) Gandhi & S. L. Hatch: Sida 13: 123. (1988) | ||||||||
Web links |