Goat's Rue

(Tephrosia virginiana)

 

   

 

Color Photograph: Matthew C. Perry, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Department of the Interior.

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

 

Goat's Rue (Tephrosia virginiana [L.] Pers.)

Identification: Flowers showy, bicolored with a yellow top petal (standard) and red lower petals (wings). Flowers arranged in a cluster near the top of the plant. Seedpods straight. Stem and leaves covered with fine, silky hair. Leaves with 8 to 14 pairs of opposite leaflets plus an apical leaflet. Plant 1 to 2 feet in height.

Distribution: Manitoba in the west to New England in the east, southward to Florida and Texas.

Habitat: Found on sandy soil.

Flowering period: May to August.

Similar Species: The bicolored yellow and red flowers and the silky down over the vegetation are distinctive features of Goat's Rue.

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