Baptisia lactea |
Baptisia lactea var. pendula |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
western white indigo |
||||||
Habit | Herbs to 2 m, glabrous. | |||||
Leaves | petiolate; stipules caducous, lanceolate, 2–8 mm; petiole 5–15 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate. |
|||||
Racemes | 8–20-flowered, terminal, stiffly erect, ebracteate. |
|||||
Pedicels | 3–10 mm. |
|||||
Flowers | 18–25 mm; calyx 7–8 mm, glabrous; corolla white, 16–23 mm. |
|||||
Legumes | black in age, ascending to spreading-pendent, plump, ellipsoid-cylindric, 23–50 × 10–30 mm, smooth. |
15–30 mm wide; mature stipe much longer than calyx. |
||||
Seeds | 20–30. |
|||||
Baptisia lactea |
Baptisia lactea var. pendula |
|||||
Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | |||||
Habitat | Grasslands, heavy soils. | |||||
Elevation | 50–700 m. (200–2300 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
c United States; se United States |
FL; GA; NC; SC |
||||
Discussion | 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.) |
Variety pendula is closely related to var. lactea. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
Key |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Baptisia | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Baptisia > Baptisia lactea | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Dolichos lacteus | B. pendula, B. lactea var. obovata | ||||
Name authority | (Rafinesque) Thieret: Sida 3: 446. (1969) | (Larisey) B. L. Turner: Phytologia 88: 255. (2006) | ||||
Web links |