Wildflower (forb) · Fabaceae
Partridge pea
Chamaecrista fasciculata · includes its varieties and subspecies
Partridge pea is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,335 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Partridge pea at a glance
- Native in
- 1,335 counties, across 35 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 7a PLANTS minimum temperature −3°F
- Mature height
- 2.4 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 7a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −3°F; zone 7a winters bottom out at 0°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Partridge pea is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,335 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,335 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 15 counties
- Arkansas 70 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 61 counties
- Georgia 46 counties
- Illinois 95 counties
- Indiana 43 counties
- Iowa 24 counties
- Kansas 76 counties
- Kentucky 56 counties
- Louisiana 60 counties
- Maryland 2 counties
- Massachusetts 11 counties
- Michigan 5 counties
- Minnesota 19 counties
- Mississippi 68 counties
- Missouri 112 counties
- Nebraska 32 counties
- New Jersey 18 counties
- New Mexico 2 counties
- New York 14 counties
- North Carolina 75 counties
- Ohio 35 counties
- Oklahoma 49 counties
- Pennsylvania 21 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- South Carolina 36 counties
- South Dakota 4 counties
- Tennessee 50 counties
- Texas 113 counties
- Virginia 83 counties
- West Virginia 13 counties
- Wisconsin 19 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual
- Mature height
- 2.4 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 14 to 45 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5.5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Not recorded
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −3°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 7a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 130
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- Slight
- Nitrogen fixation
- Medium
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Fabaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CHFA2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Chamaecrista fasciculata (PLANTS symbol CHFA2), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources