Plants perennial herbs or subshrubs. Leaves pinnately compound, with 3 leaflets; stipules adnated to the petioles for most of their length. Inflorescences dense, with primary and secondary bracts. Flowers subsessile; receptacles long, filiform; calyces 5-lobed, the lowest lobe the longest; corollas yellow or orange; filaments united; anthers 10, alternately long and short; styles long and filiform, breaking off after flowering. Pods oblong, beaked, with 1-2 units. reticulate.
Stylosanthes includes about 25 species. It is native to the tropics and subtropis. One species, Stylosanthes fruticosa, grows in both Somaliland and Somalia.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.