Trailing Wild Bean
Strophostyles helvola
A trailing annual bean of sandy shores and dunes, with pink flowers that fade to yellow-green within a day and a keel curved into a distinct beak. Roots at the nodes as it runs, which makes it genuinely useful for holding loose sand. Hosts several skippers and feeds quail and songbirds.
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Type
- vine
- Lifespan
- annual
- Height
- 2–6 ft
- Spacing
- 2–4 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- dry, moist
- Soil pH
- neutral
- Bloom
- June, July, August, September, October
- Bloom colors
- white, pink, purple
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, butterflies, larval host, songbirds
- Landscape uses
- groundcover, erosion control, naturalizing
- Native states
- AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WI, WV