Dioclea guianensis

Native from southern Mexico through tropical South America and northwestern Trinidad, this perennial woody climber grows in humid forests. Its leaves have three leaflets, and upright flower clusters bear purple to violet, pea-shaped blooms. Flattened pods open by twisting their woody valves, releasing hard seeds. In Colombia, it occurs from lowlands to about 6,560 feet in the Amazonian, Andean, and Orinoco regions. Photographed in Panama.