diff --git a/Changelog.rst b/Changelog.rst
index 8fa31309..7d12294f 100644
--- a/Changelog.rst
+++ b/Changelog.rst
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 Change Log
 ============
 
-1.12.2
-++++++
+1.12.2 (unreleased)
++++++++++++++++++++
 
 Fixes
 ------
 
 * `ParallelSSHClient.copy_file` with recurse enabled and absolute destination path would create empty directory in home directory of user - #197.
 * `ParallelSSHClient.copy_file` and `scp_recv` with recurse enabled would not create remote directories when copying empty local directories.
+* `ParallelSSHClient.scp_send` would require SFTP when recurse is off and remote destination path contains directory - #157.
 
 1.12.1
 ++++++
diff --git a/pssh/clients/native/single.py b/pssh/clients/native/single.py
index 227de0b3..fdfd86f2 100644
--- a/pssh/clients/native/single.py
+++ b/pssh/clients/native/single.py
@@ -484,8 +484,8 @@ def scp_recv(self, remote_file, local_file, recurse=False, sftp=None,
         :raises: :py:class:`IOError` on local file IO errors.
         :raises: :py:class:`OSError` on local OS errors like permission denied.
         """
-        sftp = self._make_sftp() if (sftp is None and recurse) else sftp
         if recurse:
+            sftp = self._make_sftp() if sftp is None else sftp
             try:
                 self._eagain(sftp.stat, remote_file)
             except (SFTPHandleError, SFTPProtocolError):
@@ -575,13 +575,14 @@ def scp_send(self, local_file, remote_file, recurse=False, sftp=None):
         elif os.path.isdir(local_file) and not recurse:
             raise ValueError("Recurse must be True if local_file is a "
                              "directory.")
-        destination = self._remote_paths_split(remote_file)
-        if destination is not None:
-            sftp = self._make_sftp() if sftp is None else sftp
-            try:
-                self._eagain(sftp.stat, destination)
-            except (SFTPHandleError, SFTPProtocolError):
-                self.mkdir(sftp, destination)
+        if recurse:
+            destination = self._remote_paths_split(remote_file)
+            if destination is not None:
+                sftp = self._make_sftp() if sftp is None else sftp
+                try:
+                    self._eagain(sftp.stat, destination)
+                except (SFTPHandleError, SFTPProtocolError):
+                    self.mkdir(sftp, destination)
         self._scp_send(local_file, remote_file)
         logger.info("SCP local file %s to remote destination %s:%s",
                     local_file, self.host, remote_file)
diff --git a/tests/native/test_parallel_client.py b/tests/native/test_parallel_client.py
index 3a3ed1db..f324b9e5 100644
--- a/tests/native/test_parallel_client.py
+++ b/tests/native/test_parallel_client.py
@@ -1319,6 +1319,10 @@ def test_file_read_no_timeout(self):
         self.assertListEqual(_contents, _out)
 
     def test_scp_send_dir(self):
+        """
+        Attempting to copy into a non-existent remote directory via scp_send()
+        without recurse=True should raise an SCPError.
+        """
         test_file_data = 'test'
         local_filename = 'test_file'
         remote_test_dir, remote_filepath = 'remote_test_dir', 'test_file_copy'
@@ -1330,7 +1334,30 @@ def test_scp_send_dir(self):
         try:
             cmds = self.client.scp_send(local_filename, remote_filename)
             joinall(cmds, raise_error=True)
-            time.sleep(.2)
+        except Exception as ex:
+            self.assertIsInstance(ex, SCPError)
+        finally:
+            try:
+                os.unlink(local_filename)
+            except OSError:
+                pass
+            try:
+                shutil.rmtree(remote_test_dir_abspath)
+            except OSError:
+                pass
+
+    def test_scp_send_dir_recurse(self):
+        test_file_data = 'test'
+        local_filename = 'test_file'
+        remote_test_dir, remote_filepath = 'remote_test_dir', 'test_file_copy'
+        with open(local_filename, 'w') as file_h:
+            file_h.writelines([test_file_data + os.linesep])
+        remote_filename = os.path.sep.join([remote_test_dir, remote_filepath])
+        remote_file_abspath = os.path.expanduser('~/' + remote_filename)
+        remote_test_dir_abspath = os.path.expanduser('~/' + remote_test_dir)
+        try:
+            cmds = self.client.scp_send(local_filename, remote_filename, recurse=True)
+            joinall(cmds, raise_error=True)
             self.assertTrue(os.path.isdir(remote_test_dir_abspath))
             self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile(remote_file_abspath))
             remote_file_data = open(remote_file_abspath, 'r').read()