I saw several examples of this very cool plant on my latest adventure to Illinois and Missouri. The Partridge Pea is found in the eastern United States, excluding Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. A member of the Legume Family, like other legumes, it is a nitrogen-fixing plant, with microorganisms helping to produce the nitrogen compounds necessary for the plant to survive. The microorganisms inhabit root nodules, which provide them with a safe habitat, while giving the plant access to the nutrients.
Partridge Pea’s leaves consist of 10 to 15 pairs of small, narrow leaflets that are somewhat delicate to the touch. Like other members in its family, the plant displays nyctinasty, wherein the leaves open and close in response to day and night cycles.
This is considered an important honey plant, often occurring where few other honey plants are found. Nectar is not available in the flowers, but is produced by small orange glands at the base of each leaf. Ants often seek the nectar and are frequent visitors. Partridge Pea’s 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.
Partridge Pea thrives in areas that have been burned recently before declining in numbers in the following years. It is a pioneer species, growing densely in depleted sites that cannot support other plants. 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.
Hanging from this species, the fruit is a flat green pod that closely resembles a vegetable you may have in your garden. These pods will slowly brown until they are mature, eventually falling into the soil to become their own individual plant. The flowers have yellow anthers that produce reproductive pollen, and purple anthers that produce food pollen, but no nectar. Long-tongued bees such as bumblebees, honey bees, long-horned bees, and leafcutting bees pollinate the flowers.
This was a really neat native plant to come across on my travels.