Rattlebox

(Crotalaria sagittalis)

 

   

 

Color Photograph: NRCS, Plants Database, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Rattlebox (Crotalaria sagittalis L.)

Identification: Flowers yellow, large and arising singly or in pairs from near the top of the plant. Top leaves and flowers framed at the base with an arrowhead-shaped pair of stipules. Seedpods rounded, ovate, elongate, turning black when ripe. Seeds rattle in ripe pods. Stem hairy. Leaves elongate-ovate, hairy, alternate on the stem. Plant 1.0 to 1.5 feet in height.

Distribution: Minnesota in the west, eastward to southern New England and southward to Florida, Texas, and the West Indies.

Habitat: Rattlebox is an inhabitant of sandy soils.

Flowering period: June to September.

Similar Species: The arrowhead-shaped stipules, large yellow flower, and simple, undivided, hairy leaves are distinctive.

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