Baptisia cinerea
Baptisia bracteata
grayhairy wild indigo
cream wild indigo, long-bract wild indigo, plains wild indigo
deflexed in flower.
blackening upon drying, petiolate;
stipules mostly deciduous, lanceolate, 10–30 mm;
petiole 5–14 mm;
leaflets 3, blades oval to broadly oblanceolate.
petiolate;
stipules persistent, ovate to lanceolate, 10–30 mm;
petiole 5–14 mm mid stem;
leaflets 3, blades elliptic to oblanceolate or broadly lanceolate to cuneate-obovate.
5–20-flowered, axillary, secund, bracteate, bracts deciduous.
8–30-flowered, axillary, ascending to horizontal, secund, bracteate, bracts persistent.
4–8 mm.
10–18 mm.
21–29 mm;
calyx 6–8 mm, glabrous or puberulent;
corolla yellow, 20–28 mm.
20–25 mm;
calyx 8–12 mm, glabrous or puberulent;
corolla cream or pale yellow, 18–23 mm.
ascending, ovoid, 20–30 × 6–10 mm, papery to ± woody.
ascending, ellipsoid-lanceoloid to lanceoloid, 30–45 × 15–20 mm, ± papery, puberulent to glabrate.
2–4.
20–50.
= 18.
Baptisia cinerea
Baptisia bracteata
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.)
Baptisia bracteata is very similar to B. leucophaea; it has mid stem leaves with longer petioles (5–14 versus 1–4 mm) and shorter flowering pedicels (10–18 versus 25–40 mm).
Baptisia bracteata forms hybrids and backcrosses with B. lactea and perhaps other species with which it might co-occur. No doubt such intermingling accounts for the exceptional variation found in B. bracteata (R. L. Wilbur 1963c).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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