Flora of North America species comparison

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Baptisia cinerea

Baptisia leucophaea

grayhairy wild indigo

plains wild indigo
Habit Herbs erect, to 1 m, glabrous or pubescent. Herbs spreading, to 0.5 m, glabrous or pubescent.
Stems

deflexed in flower.
Leaves

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 triangular, 10–35 mm;

petiole 1–4 mm mid stem;

leaflets 3, blades elliptic to oblanceolate or broadly lanceolate to cuneate-obovate.
Racemes

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

8–30-flowered, axillary, secund, bracteate, bracts persistent.
Pedicels

4–8 mm.

25–40 mm.
Flowers

21–29 mm;

calyx 6–8 mm, glabrous or puberulent;

corolla yellow, 20–28 mm.

18–25 mm;

calyx 7–11 mm, glabrous or pubescent;

corolla yellow, 17–23 mm.
Legumes

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

ascending or pendent, ellipsoid-lanceoloid to lanceoloid, 40–55 × 15–20 mm, ± papery, pubescent to glabrate.
Seeds

2–4.

20–30.
2n

= 18.

Baptisia cinerea

Baptisia leucophaea
Phenology Flowering Apr–May. Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat Pine and pine-oak woodlands, sandy soils. Grasslands, open areas, pine-oak woodlands, sandy soils.
Elevation 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) 10–3000 m. (0–9800 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
NC; SC; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AR; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MI; MN; MO; NE; OK; TX; WI
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.)

Baptisia leucophaea is widespread and highly variable; the variation is compounded by hybridization with other taxa. M. M. Larisey (1940) treated B. leucophaea as having two varieties and treated B. leucophaea var. laevicaulis at specific rank. D. Isely (1981, 1998) included all of the Larisey taxa in the relatively isolated B. bracteata. There is little intergradation between B. bracteata and B. leucophaea.

Baptisia leucophaea is known to form F1 hybrids and backcrosses with B. australis (B. × bicolor Greenman & Larisey), B. lactea, B. nuttalliana, and B. sphaerocarpa (B. × intermedia Larisey [= B. × stricta Larisey and B. × bushii Small]); see discussion under 3. B. sphaerocarpa.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Baptisia 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
B. alba, B. arachnifera, B. australis, B. bracteata, B. calycosa, B. cinerea, B. hirsuta, B. lactea, B. lanceolata, B. lecontei, B. megacarpa, B. nuttalliana, B. perfoliata, B. simplicifolia, B. sphaerocarpa, B. tinctoria
Synonyms Lasinia cinera B. alba var. macrophylla, B. bracteata var. glabrescens, B. bracteata var. laevicaulis, B. bracteata var. leucophaea, B. leucophaea var. glabrescens, B. leucophaea var. laevicaulis
Name authority (Rafinesque) Fernald & B. G. Schubert: Rhodora 50: 201. (1948) Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 282. (1818)
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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