Baptisia lactea
Baptisia bracteata
western white indigo
cream wild indigo, long-bract wild indigo, plains wild indigo
deflexed in flower.
petiolate;
stipules caducous, lanceolate, 2–8 mm;
petiole 5–15 mm;
leaflets 3, blades obovate.
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.
8–20-flowered, terminal, stiffly erect, ebracteate.
8–30-flowered, axillary, ascending to horizontal, secund, bracteate, bracts persistent.
3–10 mm.
10–18 mm.
18–25 mm;
calyx 7–8 mm, glabrous;
corolla white, 16–23 mm.
20–25 mm;
calyx 8–12 mm, glabrous or puberulent;
corolla cream or pale yellow, 18–23 mm.
black in age, ascending to spreading-pendent, plump, ellipsoid-cylindric, 23–50 × 10–30 mm, smooth.
ascending, ellipsoid-lanceoloid to lanceoloid, 30–45 × 15–20 mm, ± papery, puberulent to glabrate.
20–30.
20–50.
= 18.
Baptisia lactea
Baptisia bracteata
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Baptisia lactea forms hybrids with B. lanceolata, B. nuttalliana, B. sphaerocarpa (B. × sulphurea Engelmann), and B. tinctoria (B. × deamii Larisey).
Peripheral intergradation between var. lactea and var. pendula occurs (hence their treatment as varieties); they are not known to co-occur at present.
(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.)
1. Legumes 10–15 mm wide; mature stipes about as long as calyces; c United States. | var. lactea |
1. Legumes 15–30 mm wide; mature stipes much longer than calyces; se United States. | var. pendula |
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