Flora of North America species comparison

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Baptisia

false indigo, wild indigo
Habit Herbs, perennial, bushy, unarmed; rootstock thick or rhizomatous.
Stems

stiffly erect or spreading, glabrous or pubescent.
Leaves

alternate, odd-pinnate;

stipules present or absent;

petiolate, sessile, or subsessile;

leaflets usually 3, rarely 1 or 2, blade margins entire, surfaces glabrous or pubescent.
Inflorescences

1–30+-flowered, axillary or terminal, racemes;

bracts present or absent, 2, well developed when present;

bracteoles usually absent, distal to middle of pedicel when present.
Flowers

papilionaceous;

calyx campanulate, subactinomorphic, lobes 4;

corolla white, yellow, violet, or blue, petals mostly distinct, keel petals slightly connate;

stamens 10, distinct;

anthers dorsifixed;

ovary distinctly stipitate, glabrous or pubescent.
Fruits

legumes, stipitate, inflated, suborbicular, lanceoloid, ellipsoid, oblong, ovoid, or cylindric, indehiscent, leathery, glabrous or pubescent.
Seeds

2–30+, obovoid to ovoid.
x

= 9.

Baptisia
Distribution
from USDA
e North America; c North America; sc North America
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 17 (17 in the flora).

Baptisia is monophyletic and most closely related to the North American species of Thermopsis (B. L. Turner 1981; M. G. Mendenhall 1994; Wang H. C. et al. 2006). It is mostly confined to the eastern United States; B. australis var. minor and B. tinctoria barely extend into Canada. Baptisia is perhaps best known for having very distinct species that commonly hybridize, which confounded early botanists. For example, M. M. Larisey (1940) recognized 30 species in Baptisia, most of which are of hybrid origin. D. Isely (1981) provided an excellent account in which 15 species were recognized; in his account of 1998, 16 species were recognized, some with two or more varieties. Turner (2006c) provided detailed occurrence maps for the species and varieties treated here.

D. Isely (1981) provided a detailed summary of the hybridization problems in Baptisia. As documented by R. E. Alston and B. L. Turner (1962) and M. A. Kosnik et al. (1996), anywhere two species of Baptisia are found growing together or in proximity, hybrids and/or their derivatives can be expected.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaflets 1.
→ 2
2. Herbs pubescent; Brantley and Wayne counties, Georgia.
B. arachnifera
2. Herbs glabrous; Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina.
→ 3
3. Leaves not perfoliate.
B. simplicifolia
3. Leaves perfoliate.
B. perfoliata
1. Leaflets usually 3 (1 or 2 distally in B. sphaerocarpa).
→ 4
4. Pedicels bracteolate.
→ 5
5. Flowers 10–15 mm; calyces 6–7 mm, lobes ± equal to tube.
B. lecontei
5. Flowers 10–14 mm; calyces 8–13 mm, lobes much longer than tube.
→ 6
6. Herbs glabrous; ne Florida.
B. calycosa
6. Herbs pubescent; easternmost Florida Panhandle.
B. hirsuta
4. Pedicels ebracteolate.
→ 7
7. Corollas dull violet to deep blue.
B. australis
7. Corollas white, cream, or yellow.
→ 8
8. Corollas white, cream, or pale yellow.
→ 9
9. Legumes cylindric to oblong-lanceoloid, 7–10 mm wide; flowers.
B. alba
9. Legumes ellipsoid-cylindric or ellipsoid-lanceoloid to lanceoloid, 12–30 mm wide; flowers 18–25 mm.
→ 10
10. Racemes terminal, stiffly erect, not secund; corollas white.
B. lactea
10. Racemes axillary, ascending to horizontal, secund; corollas cream or pale yellow.
B. bracteata
8. Corollas usually yellow (sometimes cream or pale yellow in B. bracteata and B. megacarpa).
→ 11
11. Legumes suborbicular, woody; leaflets 3 to mid stem, 1 or 2 distally.
B. sphaerocarpa
11. Legumes ovoid, suborbicular, ellipsoid, lanceoloid, or ellipsoid-lanceoloid, leathery, brittle, papery, or woody; leaflets 3 throughout.
→ 12
12. Corollas 12–16 mm; legumes 8–15 mm.
B. tinctoria
12. Corollas (15–)18–28 mm; legumes 8–55 mm.
→ 13
13. Racemes secund, axillary, 8–30-flowered.
→ 14
14. Petioles 1–4 mm mid stem; c, n United States.
B. leucophaea
14. Petioles 5–14 mm mid stem; se United States.
→ 15
15. Bracts persistent.
B. bracteata
15. Bracts deciduous.
B. cinerea
13. Racemes not secund, terminal or axillary, 1–10(–12)-flowered.
→ 16
16. Mid stem leaves sessile or subsessile; corollas 15–20 mm; sc United States.
B. nuttalliana
16. Mid stem leaves subsessile or petiolate; corollas 18–25 mm; se United States.
→ 17
17. Petioles 15–20 mm mid stem; legumes 30–40 × 20–30 mm.
B. megacarpa
17. Petioles 0.1–12 mm mid stem; legumes 10–25 × 10–12 mm.
B. lanceolata
Source FNA vol. 11. Author: Billie L. Turner†.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae
Subordinate taxa
B. alba, B. arachnifera, B. australis, B. bracteata, B. calycosa, B. cinerea, B. hirsuta, B. lactea, B. lanceolata, B. lecontei, B. leucophaea, B. megacarpa, B. nuttalliana, B. perfoliata, B. simplicifolia, B. sphaerocarpa, B. tinctoria
Name authority Ventenat: Dec. Gen. Nov., 9. (1808)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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