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Chamaecrista nictitans
Also called Partridge-pea, Sensitive Pea, Wild Sensitive Plant, Sensitive Cassia, Sensitive Plant
Chamaecrista nictitans is a low-growing annual legume with bright yellow flowers and leaflets that fold when touched. It spreads into mats and grows in a wide range of open, disturbed or lightly shaded sites.
Chamaecrista nictitans, the sensitive cassia, sensitive partridge pea, small partridge pea or wild sensitive plant, is a herbaceous species of legume widely distributed through the temperate and tropical Americas. It is an annual plant capable of rapid plant movement—its leaflets fold together when touched. However, a population at Haleakala National Park on the island of Maui, Hawaii, was reported as not being sensitive to touch.
C. nictitans is widely distributed throughout the temperate and tropical Americas. It has also been introduced to Hawaii and subtropics and tropics in Asia.
Historically, the Cherokee tribe used C. nictitans along with Senna marilandica to treat spasm in infants. It also was used as a cathartic and a vermifuge.
Chamaecrista aldabrensis · Tropical sensitive pea · Chamaecrista bucherae · Partridge pea · Jamaican broom · Chamaecrista · Chota Aura · Roundleaf sensitive pea · Sensitive pea
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chamaecrista nictitans by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
