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rusty indigo

Carolina indigo

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

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

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

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

3–10-flowered, lax, 2.5–3.5 cm.

15–40-flowered, lax, 4–12 cm.

Peduncles

0.7–1.2 cm.

1–2 cm.

Pedicels

0.5–1 mm.

1–2(–3) mm.

Flowers

2.5–3 mm;

calyx 1.5–1.9 mm, lobes subulate;

corolla reddish or salmon pink.

6–9 mm;

calyx 1.5–2 mm, lobes deltate;

corolla dark pinkish buff to ochroleucous.

Legumes

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

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

Seeds

8–12, amber-brown, cuboid.

2 or 3, yellowish tan, bluntly ellipsoidal.

2n

= 16.

Indigofera colutea

Indigofera caroliniana

Phenology Flowering year-round. Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Disturbed areas, roadsides, rocky areas, coastal sand. Pinelands, pine-palmetto, scrub oak communities, sandhills, hammocks, roadsides.
Elevation 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.) 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in West Indies (Hispaniola, Jamaica), Pacific Islands, Australia]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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.)

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. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Indigofera 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
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 Galega colutea, I. viscosa Anila caroliniana, I. disperma
Name authority (Burman f.) Merrill: Philipp. J. Sci. 19: 355. (1921) Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Indigofera no. 3. (1768)
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