Flora of North America species comparison

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Baptisia cinerea

grayhairy wild indigo
Habit Herbs erect, to 1 m, glabrous or pubescent.
Leaves

blackening upon drying, petiolate;

stipules mostly deciduous, lanceolate, 10–30 mm;

petiole 5–14 mm;

leaflets 3, blades oval to broadly oblanceolate.
Racemes

5–20-flowered, axillary, secund, bracteate, bracts deciduous.
Pedicels

4–8 mm.
Flowers

21–29 mm;

calyx 6–8 mm, glabrous or puberulent;

corolla yellow, 20–28 mm.
Legumes

ascending, ovoid, 20–30 × 6–10 mm, papery to ± woody.
Seeds

2–4.

Baptisia cinerea
Phenology Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Pine and pine-oak woodlands, sandy soils.
Elevation 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
NC; SC; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Baptisia cinerea closely resembles B. bracteata; the floral bracts in B. cinerea are deciduous (versus persistent in B. bracteata), pedicels are shorter (4–8 versus 10–18 mm), legumes are smaller (2–3 versus 3–4 cm) with appressed (versus spreading) hairs, and leaflets are larger and readily blacken upon drying.

Baptisia cinerea and B. bracteata are essentially allopatric. Hybrids between B. cinerea and other species of Baptisia have not been reported; occasional hybrids between B. cinerea and others (for example, B. lactea) would not be surprising.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Baptisia
Sibling taxa
B. alba, B. arachnifera, B. australis, B. bracteata, B. calycosa, B. hirsuta, B. lactea, B. lanceolata, B. lecontei, B. leucophaea, B. megacarpa, B. nuttalliana, B. perfoliata, B. simplicifolia, B. sphaerocarpa, B. tinctoria
Synonyms Lasinia cinera
Name authority (Rafinesque) Fernald & B. G. Schubert: Rhodora 50: 201. (1948)
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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