| Author | (Jacquin) Bentham | |
| Distribution | Limited in the state only to the far southeastern coastal areas, of Brunswick and New Hanover counties. Its native occurrence in NC is uncertain, but as it does range coastally in the Southeastern states, including SC, occurrences in NC close to the SC border may well be native. Weakley (2018) considers it as native in NC, though with the statement that it is "Often weedy in appearance, and its nativity at a particular location difficult to judge". A specimen from Currituck County (herbarium ODU) is misidentified and probably belongs to Strophostyles.
This is a Deep South species ranging north only to extreme southeastern NC, and west in the Coastal Plain to TX. It ranges far to the south of the US. | |
| Abundance | Rare to locally uncommon; most records are from close to the Cape Fear River and tributaries, in the vicinity of Wilmington. The NCNHP considers it as a Watch List, but with a W4 status, indicating that it is of uncertain provenance and might not be native. There are 55 specimens at SERNEC, collected from at least 15 sites and from 1900 to 1972; therefore well-established and is here treated as a weedy native species until proven otherwise. The NCNHP recently (2022) gave most W4 taxa a State Rank of SU (Undetermined); this website prefers to give a rank that suggests its abundance in the state, offering S1? owing to its limited range. | |
| Habitat | This is a species mainly of coastal areas, but instead of being tied to salt water or even brackish water, it is mainly found along the edges of tidal freshwater marshes, damp thickets, roadbanks, and ditches. It is clearly considered as a wetland species. | |
| Phenology | Blooms from July to September; fruits from August to October. | |
| Identification | This is a fairly robust, but herbaceous vine, often growing to 6-8 feet long, usually trailing. It is not normally branched, and it has numerous trifoliate leaves along the stem. The 3 leaflets are ovate to lanceolate and somewhat narrowly triangular in shape, about 2.5-3 inches long, narrowing to an acute tip, but with a rounded base. The flowers grow in small axillary clusters, on stalks somewhat longer than the leaves. The few flowers in each cluster are bright yellow and about 3/4-inch across. The pods are fairly long, "bean-like", about 2-3 inches long and rather narrow. This species often tends to grow in tangles or mats, rather than one or two plants strung out like a snake, but often dense enough as not to be able to count individual plants. Very few native (presumed) legumes in NC have bright yellow flowers on vines with trifoliate leaves that are narrowly ovate to triangular, especially growing close to the tidal marshes in the Wilmington area or other places near the Cape Fear River and the Brunswick River. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
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| Other Common Name(s) | Wild Cowpea, Hairy Cowpea | |
| State Rank | SU [S1?] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | W4 | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACW link |
| USACE-emp | FACW link |
