Baptisia cinerea
Baptisia megacarpa
grayhairy wild indigo
Apalachicola 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 caducous, lanceolate, very small;
petiole 15–20 mm;
leaflets 3, blades elliptic.
5–20-flowered, axillary, secund, bracteate, bracts deciduous.
4–10(–12)-flowered, terminal, not secund, ebracteate.
4–8 mm.
8–15 mm.
21–29 mm;
calyx 6–8 mm, glabrous or puberulent;
corolla yellow, 20–28 mm.
20–24 mm;
calyx 8–10 mm, glabrous;
corolla yellow or pale yellow, 18–22 mm.
ascending, ovoid, 20–30 × 6–10 mm, papery to ± woody.
mostly pendent, tan or brownish, inflated, broadly ellipsoid, 30–40 × 20–30 mm, leathery or brittle.
2–4.
10–25.
Baptisia cinerea
Baptisia megacarpa
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.)
As noted by D. Isely (1981), Baptisia megacarpa is a relatively localized endemic superficially similar to the white-flowered B. lactea but readily distinguished by a number of characters, such as its yellow flowers and the thin walls and pale color of the fruits. In the DNA studies of M. G. Mendenhall (1994), B. megacarpa forms a clade with the B. alba-B. australis-B. lactea-B. sphaerocarpa complex.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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