Stylosanthes fruticosa

  

Stylosanthes fruticosa (syn. Arachis fruticosa), the African stylo, wild lucerne or shrubby pencil-flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Cape Verde, sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and has been introduced to Hawaii. Relished by livestock, it can survive light shade, acid soils and even light frosts. It grows from sea level to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) on as little as 300 mm (12 in) of rain per year.

It is a small shrubby perennial herb, sometimes only short-lived. Stems are erect or sometimes prostrate, growing up to 1 m long, densely hairy and sometimes bristly. Leaves are trifoliolate - leaflets elliptic to lance-shaped, up to 3.3 cm long, velvety and bristly. Margin is entire, often thickened. Flowers are borne in dense heads in leaf axils and at the end of branches. Normally one flower opens at the time. Flowers are shaped like pea-flowers, with the standard petal creamy-white to orange-yellow with red veining and red at the base. Wings and keel are yellow. Pod is 1-2-jointed, 4-9 mm long, beaked.

Stylosanthes fruticosa is part of the catalog of ayurvedic medicinal plants of Sri Lanka.