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rusty indigo

Habit Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, pubescent, hairs long, simple, erect, spreading, glandular, intermixed with appressed hairs.
Stems

ascending and spreading or prostrate, branched, 3–30 dm.

Leaves

1.5–4.5 cm;

stipules narrowly linear, 2.5–3.5 mm;

petiole 1–1.5 cm;

stipels of brown hairs;

petiolules 0.5 mm;

leaflets 5–11, sometimes subopposite or alternate proximally, opposite distally, blades elliptic or obovate, 7–14 × 3–4 mm, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, apex broadly acute or obtuse, apiculate, surfaces pubescent, hairs erect, spreading, and appressed.

Racemes

3–10-flowered, lax, 2.5–3.5 cm.

Peduncles

0.7–1.2 cm.

Pedicels

0.5–1 mm.

Flowers

2.5–3 mm;

calyx 1.5–1.9 mm, lobes subulate;

corolla reddish or salmon pink.

Legumes

brown, spreading, slightly deflexed, or slightly ascending, cylindric, straight, 18–26 mm, papery, pubescent.

Seeds

8–12, amber-brown, cuboid.

2n

= 16.

Indigofera colutea

Phenology Flowering year-round.
Habitat Disturbed areas, roadsides, rocky areas, coastal sand.
Elevation 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in West Indies (Hispaniola, Jamaica), Pacific Islands, Australia]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In the flora area, Indigofera colutea is known only from Hillsborough, Manatee, and Polk counties.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Indigofera
Sibling taxa
I. caroliniana, 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 Galega colutea, I. viscosa
Name authority (Burman f.) Merrill: Philipp. J. Sci. 19: 355. (1921)
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