Flora of North America species comparison

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Baptisia australis

blue wild indigo
Habit Herbs robust, low-spreading, 0.5–1.5 m, glabrous.
Leaves

petiolate;

stipules mostly persistent, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 3–15 mm;

petiole 4–12 mm;

leaflets 3, blades obovate to oblanceolate.
Racemes

8+-flowered, terminal, bracteate, bracts caducous.
Pedicels

5–12 mm.
Flowers

22–26 mm;

calyx 8–12 mm, glabrous;

corolla dull violet to deep blue, 20–24 mm.
Legumes

erect to ascending-divergent, ellipsoid-oblong to asymmetric-ovoid, 30–50 × 10–30 mm, leathery becoming brittle, glabrous.
Seeds

20–30.
2n

= 18.

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

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Legumes 10–20 mm wide; stipes 4–8 mm in fruit; ne United States.
var. australis
1. Legumes much inflated, 20–30 mm wide; stipes 8–12 mm in fruit; Ontario and sc United States.
var. minor
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Baptisia
Sibling taxa
B. alba, B. arachnifera, 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
Subordinate taxa
B. australis var. australis, B. australis var. minor
Synonyms Sophora australis
Name authority (Linnaeus) R. Brown in W. Aiton and W. T. Aiton: Hortus Kew. 3: 6. (1811)
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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