See text Stylosanthes is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae and contains numerous highly important pasture and forage species.

[5] Taxonomy of the genus remains unsettled and controversial, with various authors favouring between 25 and 42 species, with at least 40 additional synonyms.

Styposanthes possess a small rudimentary secondary floral axis, which is absent from Stylosanthes.

[10] The putative species S. sundaica, has a range that encompasses Malesia but is considered by most authors to be an adventive polypoliod variety of S.

Its most important use has been in Australia where over a million hectares of primarily native pasture have been oversown with Stylosanthes species; primarily S. hamata, S. scabra and S. humilis [15] This can lead to a ten-fold increase in productivity, though 2–3 fold increases are normal.

[5] Stylosanthes are important green manure species in West and Central Africa, primarily S. guianensis and S. hamata, and species are planted and harvested for commercial leaf meal production for poultry and pig feed in China and India.

[6] Many Stylosanthes species are susceptible to anthracnose fungus (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides) which retards growth and seed development,[5] and this had led to numerous commercial cultivars being abandoned.