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coastal indigo, western indigo

Habit Herbs, perennial, strigose, hairs appressed, silvery.
Stems

procumbent, diffusely branched, 1–5 dm.

Leaves

1–3.5 cm;

stipules subulate, 1–7 mm;

petiole 0.5–8 cm;

stipels absent or of reddish hairs;

petiolules 1 mm;

leaflets (3 or)5–11(–17), usually alternate, rarely opposite, blades oblanceolate, obovate, or narrowly elliptic, 5–25 × 5 mm, similar in size within a leaf, base cuneate, apex acute or truncate, ± mucronate, surfaces glabrous or adaxially glabrate to densely pubescent.

Racemes

2–20-flowered, dense or lax, 1.5–9 cm.

Peduncles

1.5–8 cm.

Pedicels

1 mm.

Flowers

7–12 mm;

calyx 4–6 mm, lobes usually long-subulate, sometimes triangular;

corolla brick red, salmon pinkish, or salmon orange.

Legumes

brown, irregularly spreading or deflexed, cylindric, straight, 10–40 mm, leathery, densely sericeous.

Seeds

2–8, usually brown, sometimes lighter and brown-speckled, cuboid.

2n

= 32.

Indigofera miniata

Phenology Flowering Jan–Oct.
Habitat Open woods, creek bottoms, ruderal areas, pinelands, hammocks, urban waste areas.
Elevation 0–1200 m. (0–3900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; KS; LA; OK; TX; Central America; Mexico (Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, México, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz); West Indies (Cuba)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Indigofera miniata is sometimes subdivided into vars. floridana, leptosepala, and miniata. They intergrade and are not clearly differentiated.

Indigofera mexicana Bentham, I. nana Rydberg, and I. ornithopodioides Chamisso & Schlechtendal are illegitimate names that pertain here.

(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. colutea, I. decora, I. hirsuta, I. kirilowii, I. lindheimeriana, I. oxycarpa, I. pilosa, I. sphaerocarpa, I. spicata, I. suffruticosa, I. texana, I. tinctoria
Synonyms Anila leptosepala, Astragalus pasqualensis, A. recticarpus, I. argentata, I. cinerea, I. hartwegii, I. leptosepala, I. miniata var. floridana, I. miniata var. leptosepala, I. sphenoides, Orobus coccineus
Name authority Ortega: Nov. Pl. Descr. Dec. 8: 98. (1798)
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