Southern Pencil-flower

Scientific Name - Stylosanthes hamata (L.) Taub.
Family - Leguminosae

Perennial from a deep tough rootstock, with many trailing prostrate stems. Leaves with three leaflets. Leaves narrowly elliptic, veiny. Stipules fused to the leaf stalk. Flowers yellow, in dense foliage at the tips of stems and branches. Fruit a pod with two joints. Upper joint with a tip curved like a hook, and with a seed. Lower joint lacking a seed. Reproduces by seed. Found in turf, open pinelands, open hammocks and roadsides. Occurs in southern peninsula of Florida. Also occurs in the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and South America