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Fabaceae family

Wildhops Flemingia strobilifera

Wildhops is an introduced perennial shrub, found in Hawaii, the Pacific Basin, and Puerto Rico. It grows to 10 ft.

More about this plant

Flemingia strobilifera, commonly known as the luck plant or wild hops, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, and subfamily Faboideae. It is native to South, East and Southeast Asia. Wikipedia →

⚠ Invasive here — plant a native instead USDA + GBIF

Wildhops is flagged invasive in the U.S. These natives fill a similar niche — same growth habit, bloom season, height, and region — so you keep the look and feed local wildlife instead of spreading a problem.

Twinberry Honeysuckle

Lonicera involucrata

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Native

Hoffmannsegg's Wild Coffee

Psychotria hoffmannseggiana

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Matched on growth habit · bloom months · mature height · shared U.S. range (USDA + GBIF) — a starting point, not a prescription.

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY

Size & form

Sources · Size & form

TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0) — Height

USDA PLANTS — Lifespan

Height: 10 ft
Lifespan: Perennial

In the garden

Shrub layer — Sits in the shrub of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →

Nitrogen fixer — Fixes atmospheric nitrogen through root-nodule bacteria — builds soil fertility for itself and its neighbours, cutting fertiliser need.Open guide →

derived roles

Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Sources for this entry (14) Open & cited

[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)

[05] Invasive / introduced status — US-RIIS v2.0 (USGS)

[06] Wetland indicator — USACE National Wetland Plant List (2022)

[07] Photos — iNaturalist — CC, credited per image

[08] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)

[09] Ecological value — GloBI

[10] Height — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[11] Nitrogen fixation — Werner et al. 2014 (Dryad, CC0)

[12] Mycorrhiza — FungalRoot v2.0 · Meng et al. 2024 (Dryad, CC0)

[13] Human uses — Dr. Duke's Phytochemical & Ethnobotanical Databases (USDA, CC0)

[14] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county

Spot an error or have a better photo? Every field links to its source, and the whole dataset is open.

Cite this page Open data, please attribute

PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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Ecological value open data

1 / 5 Keystone

Keystone (host) value — caterpillar, specialist-bee & monarch hosting. A low number means “not a keystone host,” not “low value”: generalist flower-visitor value is shown separately below.

Caterpillar host 2

⚠ invasive (US) — avoid

Deep dive

Caterpillar host · 2/5 — native butterfly & moth caterpillars that feed on this genus — the base of the food web (more caterpillars → more songbirds). Genus-level keystone count from Warren II 2026 (CC0; Tallamy host-use records), gap-filled by our GloBI derivation.

Counts are genus-level and banded 0–5. Full rubric →

Host / keystone value from open interaction data. How this is scored →

📍 In your area live

Invasive in the U.S.

Recorded in 2 states.

Open occurrence records place it in 2 counties across 2 states · GBIF (CC0/CC-BY)

Introduced — Hawaii, Pacific Basin (excl. Hawaii), and Puerto Rico

Recorded in 2 states/territories

Conservation

Invasive? Yes — invasive

Wetland indicator UPL

Toxicity & pet safety

Check the ASPCA pet database →

Educational, not veterinary advice. If you suspect your pet ate this plant, contact a vet or pet poison-control line.

Documented human uses Dr. Duke's

Medicinal use 8 use-records

Historically recorded for

VermifugeAnodyneEpilepsyHysteriaParturitionRheumatismSedative

A historical record of how this plant has been used — not medical or dietary advice, and not a claim that it is effective or safe. Many plants are toxic; never ingest or treat with a wild plant without expert guidance and a confirmed identification. Dr. Duke's →

Functional traits open data

Nitrogen fixer — forms root nodules that capture atmospheric nitrogen, building soil fertility. It nodulates with rhizobia (the legume symbiosis). · Werner et al.

Mycorrhiza obligate

Arbuscular (AM)

partners with arbuscular fungi — the commonest symbiosis; helps reach phosphorus & water, aiding drought resilience

Deep dive — what these mean

Mycorrhiza AM — the root–fungus partnership it forms (AM = most plants; ECM = most forest trees; ERM = heaths; NM = none). Trades sugars for water & nutrients via shared soil networks.

Measured traits from TRY + Werner et al. (N-fix), Fan et al. (roots) & FungalRoot — general guidance, not species-specific prescriptions.

More modules coming

Wildhops Flemingia strobilifera

Growing & care

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