Flora of North America species comparison

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Indigofera caroliniana

Carolina indigo
Habit Herbs, perennial, herbaceous or suffrutescent, sparsely strigose, hairs appressed.
Stems

erect or ascending, often bushy, branched, 7–15 dm.
Leaves

2–8.5 cm;

stipules narrowly triangular, 0.5–1 mm;

petiole 0.5–1.3 cm;

stipels 0.5–1 mm;

petiolules 1–1.3 mm;

leaflets (7 or)9–13, ± opposite, blades obovate to oblanceolate, 8–20(–25) × 2–12 mm, base cuneate, apex broadly acute or obtuse, mucronate, surfaces strigulose, pale abaxially.
Racemes

15–40-flowered, lax, 4–12 cm.
Peduncles

1–2 cm.
Pedicels

1–2(–3) mm.
Flowers

6–9 mm;

calyx 1.5–2 mm, lobes deltate;

corolla dark pinkish buff to ochroleucous.
Legumes

dark brown, deflexed, ovoid or oblong, straight, 7–9 mm, woody, glabrate or sparsely strigulose.
Seeds

2 or 3, yellowish tan, bluntly ellipsoidal.

Indigofera caroliniana
Phenology Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Pinelands, pine-palmetto, scrub oak communities, sandhills, hammocks, roadsides.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Indigofera caroliniana Walter is an illegitimate later homonym that pertains here; the name by Walter is also the basis of Anila caroliniana.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Indigofera
Sibling taxa
I. colutea, I. decora, I. hirsuta, I. kirilowii, I. lindheimeriana, I. miniata, I. oxycarpa, I. pilosa, I. sphaerocarpa, I. spicata, I. suffruticosa, I. texana, I. tinctoria
Synonyms Anila caroliniana, I. disperma
Name authority Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Indigofera no. 3. (1768)
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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