Baptisia cinerea
Baptisia alba
grayhairy wild indigo
eastern white indigo, white false indigo, white wild indigo
blackening upon drying, petiolate;
stipules mostly deciduous, lanceolate, 10–30 mm;
petiole 5–14 mm;
leaflets 3, blades oval to broadly oblanceolate.
petiolate;
stipules deciduous, linear-lanceolate, 3–8 mm;
petiole 5–20 mm;
leaflets 3, blades obovate to elliptic-lanceolate.
5–20-flowered, axillary, secund, bracteate, bracts deciduous.
8–20-flowered, terminal, bracteate.
4–8 mm.
6–10 mm.
21–29 mm;
calyx 6–8 mm, glabrous or puberulent;
corolla yellow, 20–28 mm.
14–18 mm;
calyx 4.5–6.5 mm, glabrous;
corolla white, 12–16 mm.
ascending, ovoid, 20–30 × 6–10 mm, papery to ± woody.
ascending, ± inflated, cylindric to oblong-lanceoloid, 20–30 × 7–10 mm, brittle.
2–4.
20–30.
Baptisia cinerea
Baptisia alba
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.)
D. Isely (1981) accepted Baptisia alba as containing B. albescens, as did R. L. Wilbur (1963c) and B. L. Turner (2006c); later, Isely (1998) recognized B. alba with two varieties and including B. lactea and B. albescens. M. Woods and A. R. Diamond (2014) accepted both B. alba and B. albescens. The taxonomy and nomenclature of these taxa were discussed in more detail by Turner.
Baptisia alba forms hybrids with B. cinerea, B. lanceolata, B. perfoliata (B. × fulva Larisey), and B. tinctoria (B. × pinetorum Larisey [= B. × serenae M. A. Curtis]).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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