Deering partridge pea
Chamaecrista deeringiana
Fabaceae


Landscape Uses:

Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also wildflower and butterfly gardens.

Ecological Restoration Notes:

It can be used as one of many understory herbs in pine rocklands.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description:
Medium perennial herbaceous wildflower.
Height:
Typically 1-3 feet in height. Sometimes as tall as broad, but often spreading.
Growth Rate:
Moderate.
Range:
Southeastern United States south to the Monroe County Keys. Very rare in South Florida outside of Miami-Dade County. Perhaps never present or exirpated in Broward County. Presumed extirpated in the Monroe County Keys where collected once on Big Pine Keys in 1912.
Habitats:
Pine rocklands.
Soils:
Moist, well-drained limestone or sandy soils, without humus.
Nutritional Requirements:
Low; it grows in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance:
Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance:
Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
Drought Tolerance:
High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements:
Full sun.
Flower Color:
Yellow petals; red anthers.
Flower Characteristics:
Showy.
Flowering Season:
All year.
Fruit:
Inconspicuous pod (legume).
Wildlife and Ecology:
Provides food for birds. Larval host plant for cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae) butterflies.
Comments:
Distinguished from the annual partridge pea (C. fasciculata) by its red (vs. yellow) anthers.


Roger L. Hammer