Pencilflower

 

I apologize for the paucity of posts of late. Generally, I try to slap about two subjects up weekly, but that's not been possible in the past few weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to get back in the groove soon enough. Anyway, to the task at hand.

I've probably always been more drawn to the obscure rather than the overt, and this plant fits that bill. It is Pencilflower (Stylosanthes biflora), a tiny pea family member. The yellowish flower is only about 7 mm in length, and the herbage of this nearly prostrate plant is also very diminutive. Pencil-flower favors dry barrens and openings, and easily succumbs to succession by larger plants. Southern Ohio represents its northern limits, and Pencil-flower has been documented in less than a dozen counties in the state, probably no longer occurs in all of them, and populations are often quite small and widely scattered. I shot this specimen in Shawnee State Forest, Scioto County, Ohio, on August 25, 2023.