Intro: Erect, clumped perennial of sandhills and other pinelands, xeric and rocky woodlands and forests, outcrops, shale barrens and dry road banks.

Stems: Stems 1-several often in bushy clumps, unbranched to sparingly branched, usually covered with soft white hairs.

Leaves: Leaves alternate, on a petiole with a pair of tiny stipules at the base, 2-5 in. long and pinnately divided into 13-23 elliptic to oblong leaflets that are about 1 in. long with a prominent central vein and covered, at least below, with soft grayish-white hairs.

Inforescence:

Flowers: Flowers crowded in erect, terminal racemes to 3 in. tall; bicolored pink and pale yellow; about 3/4 in. long; bilaterally symmetric; with typical pea-flower shape, including a pale yellow banner petal and dark pink keel and wing petals.

Fruits: Fruit a widely spreading, soft-hairy, slightly flattened, narrowly cylindrical pod.

Comments:

Height: 1-2 ft.

plant sale text: Virginia goat's-rue is a charming, low-growing legume that has feathery, grayish-green foliage and dense clusters of pale yellow and rosy pink flowers. It can be found throughout the state of North Carolina in dry, open woods. Its leaves and seed pods are covered in silky hairs, and the root system consists of a deep taproot. Because of this deep taproot, Virginia goat's-rue can be difficult to transplant once established.

bloom table text:

description: Erect, clumped perennial of sandhills and other pinelands, xeric and rocky woodlands and forests, outcrops, shale barrens and dry road banks.

stems: Stems 1-several often in bushy clumps, unbranched to sparingly branched, usually covered with soft white hairs.

leaves: Leaves alternate, on a petiole with a pair of tiny stipules at the base, 2-5 in. long and pinnately divided into 13-23 elliptic to oblong leaflets that are about 1 in. long with a prominent central vein and covered, at least below, with soft grayish-white hairs.

inflorescence:

flowers: Flowers crowded in erect, terminal racemes to 3 in. tall; bicolored pink and pale yellow; about 3/4 in. long; bilaterally symmetric; with typical pea-flower shape, including a pale yellow banner petal and dark pink keel and wing petals.

fruits: Fruit a widely spreading, soft-hairy, slightly flattened, narrowly cylindrical pod.

comments:

cultural notes: Virginia goat's-rue is a herbaceous perennial typically found growing wild in sandy fields or along the margins of woodlands. According to some sources, this plant is toxic to grazing animals, which may account for its common name. The genus name is derived from the Greek tephros, or "ashy", referring to the gray-green foliage. Native Americans used the rootstock as a fish poison, and the root is currently a source of the botanical insecticide rotenone.

germination code: 3

native range: eastern United States