Pencil Flower (Stylosanthes biflora)

Photographic Location: AEDC in Manchester TN.

This flower is in the Bean or Pea family (Fabaceae).

Because it produces relatively few flowers at the same time and it is relatively small in size, Pencil Flower is fairly easy to overlook. It can be distinguished from similar species in the Bean family by the shiny veins on its leaves, stipules with beak-like ciliate tips, and asymmetrical seedpods (a narrow infertile segment followed by a broader fertile segment). There is some variability of this species across its range in regards to the hairiness of its stems, the erectness of its stems, whether flowers are produced individually or in small groups, etc. At the present time, these are regarded as variations of a single polymorphic species.

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