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Lindheimer's indigo

rusty indigo

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

erect, several from rootstock, sparsely branched distally, 5–15 dm.

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

Leaves

8.5–10.5 cm;

stipules sometimes clusters of hairs, 0.5–2 mm;

petiole 1–1.5 cm;

stipels 0.5–1 mm;

petiolules 0.5–1 mm;

leaflets 7–15, opposite, blades obovate, narrowly or broadly oblanceolate, or elliptic, 8–16 × 4–8 mm, base cuneate, apex acute to obtuse, apiculate, surfaces densely pubescent.

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

8–30+-flowered, lax, 5–12 cm.

3–10-flowered, lax, 2.5–3.5 cm.

Peduncles

0.8–1.2 cm.

0.7–1.2 cm.

Pedicels

1 mm.

0.5–1 mm.

Flowers

6–8 mm;

calyx 1.5–2 mm, lobes narrowly triangular;

corolla reddish.

2.5–3 mm;

calyx 1.5–1.9 mm, lobes subulate;

corolla reddish or salmon pink.

Legumes

brown, divergent or reflexed, cylindric, straight or slightly curved to falcate, 18–25 mm, leathery, base bulbous and reddish, cinereous-pubescent.

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

Seeds

4–6, brown, cuboid.

8–12, amber-brown, cuboid.

2n

= 16.

= 16.

Indigofera lindheimeriana

Indigofera colutea

Phenology Flowering May–Sep. Flowering year-round.
Habitat River and creek bottoms or banks, dry beds, limestone, roadsides. Disturbed areas, roadsides, rocky areas, coastal sand.
Elevation 200–1300 m. (700–4300 ft.) 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León)
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in West Indies (Hispaniola, Jamaica), Pacific Islands, Australia]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Indigofera lindheimeriana is found in the flora area in southwest Texas, from its eastern extent in Comal and Llano counties west to Brewster and Terrell counties.

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

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. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Indigofera Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Indigofera
Sibling taxa
I. caroliniana, I. colutea, I. decora, I. hirsuta, I. kirilowii, I. miniata, I. oxycarpa, I. pilosa, I. sphaerocarpa, I. spicata, I. suffruticosa, I. texana, I. tinctoria
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 Anila lindheimeriana Galega colutea, I. viscosa
Name authority Scheele: Linnaea 21: 464. (1848) (Burman f.) Merrill: Philipp. J. Sci. 19: 355. (1921)
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