Bigpod Sesbania (Sesbania herbacea)

August 25^th, 2012. We found this plant - Bigpod Sesbania (Sesbania herbacea) – flowering beside the road just opposite the turn to the road to pond 2A in the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge in Jones County. It’s a little north of where it’s been officially documented.

The plant. It stood approximately 7 feet tall.

The lower ‘branch’ with multiple compound leaves

An upper flowering ‘branch’

The joint with leaf and flower stem

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Views of flower stems including a bud

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Various view of an individual flower

The bract

Sesbania herbaceae (Bigpod Sesbania, Hemp Sesbania, Danglepod, Coffeeweed, Sesban, Coffee-weed, Indigo-weed) is native to North America. In the United States, it’s found in coastal states from Connecticut and New York state, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia to Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas and then south to Texas; it also occurs in California and Arizona. In Georgia, it’s only been formally documented in Richmond County and counties along the coast and bordering Florida.

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Identification resources:

- Southeastern Flora: Sesbania herbacea (Hemp Sesbania)

- Name that Plant: Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Sesbania herbacea (Sesban, Coffee-weed, Indigo-weed)

- Alabama Plants: Sesbania herbacea (Danglepod)

Distribution:

- United States Department of Agriculture Plants Database: Sesbania herbacea (Bigpod Sesbania)

- University of North Carolina Herbarium: Sesbania herbacea