Florida hammock milkpea

Galactia striata, the Florida hammock milkpea, is a slender herbaceous perennial vine in the Fabaceae (subfamily Faboideae) native to the southeastern United States, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and tropical South America, where it grows in coastal hammocks, open woodland, and disturbed thickets. Plants arise from a woody rootstock and produce trailing or twining, finely pubescent stems several metres long. The alternate, trifoliolate leaves bear elliptic to oblong-ovate leaflets 2 to 6 centimetres long, glabrous or sparsely appressed-hairy above and lighter below, on petioles with small stipels. The inflorescence is a slender axillary raceme of pea-like, pinkish purple to lavender flowers about 1 centimetre long, with the standard petal often marked with darker striations that suggest the specific epithet. The fruit is a flat, linear, finely pubescent, dehiscent legume 3 to 6 centimetres long containing several mottled brown seeds. The species fixes atmospheric nitrogen through root nodulation and is occasionally used as a forage legume.