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Lindheimer's indigo

mu lan, true indigo

Habit Herbs, perennial, suffrutescent, cinereous-pubescent, hairs silvery greenish, appressed or ascending. Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, pubescent, hairs appressed, silvery, young growth and flowering parts covered with brownish hairs, becoming glabrate.
Stems

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

erect or ascending, much branched, 5–20 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.

3–10 cm;

stipules caducous, subulate, 1–2 mm;

petiole 0.4–1.2 cm;

stipels 1–1.5 mm;

petiolules 1–1.5 mm;

leaflets 7–15, opposite, blades broadly oblanceolate to obovate or elliptic, 10–25 × 3–10 mm, base cuneate, apex broadly rounded or truncate, slightly apiculate, surfaces pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially.

Racemes

8–30+-flowered, lax, 5–12 cm.

5–25-flowered, dense, 0.5–4.5 cm.

Peduncles

0.8–1.2 cm.

0.1–0.5 cm.

Pedicels

1 mm.

1–2 mm.

Flowers

6–8 mm;

calyx 1.5–2 mm, lobes narrowly triangular;

corolla reddish.

5–6 mm;

calyx 1.5 mm, lobes triangular;

corolla pink 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.

red-brown or dark brown, spreading or reflexed, cylindric, straight or slightly curved or abruptly upturned distally, 20–35 mm, thinly leathery, strigose.

Seeds

4–6, brown, cuboid.

6–12, greenish to dark brown, cuboid-ellipsoidal.

2n

= 16.

= 16.

Indigofera lindheimeriana

Indigofera tinctoria

Phenology Flowering May–Sep. Flowering year-round.
Habitat River and creek bottoms or banks, dry beds, limestone, roadsides. Ruderal areas, disturbed pinelands, hammocks.
Elevation 200–1300 m. (700–4300 ft.) 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León)
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; NC; SC; TN; s Asia (India) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico (Tabasco), West Indies (Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands), Central America, South America (Argentina, Venezuela), elsewhere in Asia, Africa, 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.)

Indigofera tinctoria was an early source of a blue fabric dye (J. A. Duke 1981). It was widely cultivated in tropical areas around the world, and it has naturalized in many regions. Use of the plant as a dye source waned after introduction of a synthetic dye.

(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. colutea, I. decora, I. hirsuta, I. kirilowii, I. lindheimeriana, I. miniata, I. oxycarpa, I. pilosa, I. sphaerocarpa, I. spicata, I. suffruticosa, I. texana
Synonyms Anila lindheimeriana Anila tinctoria
Name authority Scheele: Linnaea 21: 464. (1848) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 751. (1753)
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