Growing under some hardwoods and pines. Area use to be mowed until the last few years but left to grow as is. These pictures was taken April 18.
Jonathan,
your plant is one of our attractive wildflowers called Baptisia bracteata, the Cream wild indigo. It is one of the first of the wild or false indigos to flower here in the Carolinas, and grows in the sandhills and in open woodlands. It is a legume, or bean, but not an edible one. The fruits are inflated like little balloons when they are ripe.
Sincerely,
Steve Hill, Botanist SCNPS