Flora of North America species comparison

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Baptisia lactea

Baptisia leucophaea

western white indigo

plains wild indigo
Habit Herbs to 2 m, glabrous. Herbs spreading, to 0.5 m, glabrous or pubescent.
Stems

deflexed in flower.
Leaves

petiolate;

stipules caducous, lanceolate, 2–8 mm;

petiole 5–15 mm;

leaflets 3, blades obovate.

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

8–20-flowered, terminal, stiffly erect, ebracteate.

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

3–10 mm.

25–40 mm.
Flowers

18–25 mm;

calyx 7–8 mm, glabrous;

corolla white, 16–23 mm.

18–25 mm;

calyx 7–11 mm, glabrous or pubescent;

corolla yellow, 17–23 mm.
Legumes

black in age, ascending to spreading-pendent, plump, ellipsoid-cylindric, 23–50 × 10–30 mm, smooth.

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

20–30.

20–30.
2n

= 18.

Baptisia lactea

Baptisia leucophaea
Phenology Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat Grasslands, open areas, pine-oak woodlands, sandy soils.
Elevation 10–3000 m. (0–9800 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
c United States; se United States
from FNA
AR; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MI; MN; MO; NE; OK; TX; WI
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.)

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.)
Key
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
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. cinerea, B. hirsuta, 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
Subordinate taxa
B. lactea var. lactea, B. lactea var. pendula
Synonyms Dolichos lacteus 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) Thieret: Sida 3: 446. (1969) 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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