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habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of stem densely covered in sticky hairs (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
leaves with three relatively broad leaflets (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
upper leaves and flower clusters (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of pea-shaped flower (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
Scientific Name
Stylosanthes viscosa (L.) Sw.
Synonyms
Hedysarum hamatum L. var. viscosum L.
Family
Fabaceae (Queensland, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory)Fabaceae: sub-family Faboideae (New South Wales)Leguminosae (South Australia)Papilionaceae (Western Australia)
Common Names
poor man's friend, sticky stylo
Origin
Native to south-eastern USA (i.e. southern Texas), Mexico, Central America (i.e. Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama), the Caribbean (i.e. Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica) and South America (i.e. French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay).
Naturalised Distribution
Widely naturalised in northern Australia (i.e. in northern and eastern Queensland, in the north-western parts of the Northern Territory, and in the coastal districts of northern Western Australia).
Also naturalised overseas in Hawaii.
Notes
Sticky stylo (Stylosanthes viscosa) is regarded as a minor environmental weed in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and northern Queensland.