Stems wiry, branched from the base, depressed to ascending or erect, 1-5 dm, with or without spreading setae; lfls narrow, 1-4 cm, 3-6 times as long as wide, acute and subulate-tipped to merely mucronate; spikes short; bracteal lvs usually 1-foliolate, the blade and stipular base often setose-ciliate as well as puberulent; fls 2-6 in the spike, orange-yellow (white), the standard 7-9 mm; fr 4-5 mm, thinly hairy, obliquely ovate, reticulate-veiny; 2n=20. Dry or rocky woods and barrens; s. N.Y. to O., s. Ill., and Kans., s. to Fla. and La. June-Aug. (S. riparia)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

Infrequent to rare in the southern counties on bare, open places on ridges wooded with black and white oak. Found also in a few post oak flats in the extreme southwestern counties. [Deam describes S. biflora var. hispidissima as having more or less densely hispid stem and leaf margins. in addition,] plants of the variety are larger, erect or nearly so, and with longer leaflets. My Crawford County specimen is from a dry woods near Wyandotte Cave, and the Daviess and Knox County specimens are from sand hills. I have not ascertained the range of the variety.

……

Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 5

Wetland Indicator Status: N/A