Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

PENCIL-FLOWER

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Stylosanthes biflora (L. ) B.S.P.

Woodson County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-24 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, ascending, or rarely sprawling; usually several, occasionally bushy-branched, glabrous to finely-hairy or bristly-hairy with yellowish bristles.

Leaves:

Alternate, short-stalked, pinnately 3-foliolate; leaflets elliptic, oblanceolate or rarely egg-shaped, .6 to 1.6 inch long, glabrous on both surfaces, prominently veined below, entire, upper margins often with spiny teeth, tips pointed or blunt.

Inflorescences:

Solitary flowers in axils of remote leaves.

Flowers:

Calyces bell-shaped, 5-lobed, upper lobe of 2 united teeth; corolla papilionaceous; petals orange-yellow to whitish, often fading pinkish; banner circular, 1/5 to 2/5 inch long; keel curved upward; stamens 10, filaments united in 1 group.

Fruits:

Pods, 2-segmented; lowest segment generally sterile, resembling stipe; fertile segment egg-shaped, less than 1/5 inch long, 1-seeded, net-veined, somewhat hairy to nearly glabrous, beak curved; seeds 1/10 inch long, ridged, yellowish to brown.

Habitat:

Rocky or sandy open woodlands and sand prairies; acidic soils.

Distribution:

Principally southeast 1/4 of Kansas.

Uses:

The Cherokee steeped the root and used the beverage to treat female complaints.

Pencil-flower