Tephrosia virginiana
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''Tephrosia virginiana'', also known as goat-rue, goat's rue, catgut, rabbit pea, Virginia tephrosia, hoary pea, and devil's shoestring is a
perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...
dicot The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, t ...
in
family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Fabaceae. The plant is native to central and eastern North America.


Description

This subshrub is low and bushy, growing to , but more often shorter. Its leaves are alternate and
compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...
, usually with 8 to 15 pairs of narrow, oblong leaflets. Soft white hairs on the leaves and the stem give them a silvery, or hoary, appearance. The flowers look similar to other flowers in the pea family and are bi-colored, with a pale yellow or cream upper petal (the standard), and pink petals on the on the bottom (the keel and wings). The flowers are grouped into clusters at the top of the stems and bloom from May to August. The seed pods that form after the flowers bloom are small, approximately long. The roots are long and stringy, which is probably the source of the common names catgut and devil's shoestrings.


Distribution and habitat

This plant prefers acidic soils, in part to full sun. It grows throughout the Midwest,
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
and
southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...
. Not easy to propagate because of the relationship it has with the acid soil it needs, this plant can be found in sand
savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
s, open woods and glades, prairies and rocky soils.


Toxicity

All tissues of this plant are toxic (containing
rotenone Rotenone is an odorless, colorless, crystalline isoflavone used as a broad-spectrum insecticide, piscicide, and pesticide. It occurs naturally in the seeds and stems of several plants, such as the jicama vine plant, and the roots of several mem ...
), and should not be eaten by people or livestock. Crushed stems were previously used as a fish poison.


References

*Peterson, Lee. (1977) A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. p. 82.


External links


USDA Plants Profile for ''Tephrosia virginiana'' (Virginia tephrosia)
virginiana Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of the United States Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Flora of the Great Lakes region (North America) Flora of Ontario Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Taxa named by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon {{Millettieae-stub