Baptisia cinerea
Baptisia perfoliata
grayhairy wild indigo
cat-bells
blackening upon drying, petiolate;
stipules mostly deciduous, lanceolate, 10–30 mm;
petiole 5–14 mm;
leaflets 3, blades oval to broadly oblanceolate.
sessile;
stipules absent;
leaflet 1, blade perfoliate, broadly ovate-elliptic.
5–20-flowered, axillary, secund, bracteate, bracts deciduous.
1-flowered, axillary, ebracteate.
4–8 mm.
absent.
21–29 mm;
calyx 6–8 mm, glabrous or puberulent;
corolla yellow, 20–28 mm.
15–17 mm;
calyx 5–7 mm, glabrous;
corolla bright yellow, 13–15 mm.
ascending, ovoid, 20–30 × 6–10 mm, papery to ± woody.
ascending, ovoid, 10–15 × 8–12 mm, abruptly beaked, woody.
2–4.
2–4.
= 18.
Baptisia cinerea
Baptisia perfoliata
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 perfoliata forms hybrids with B. alba, B. lanceolata, and B. tinctoria; F1 hybrids with the latter are called B. × microphylla Nuttall.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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